Wandering Paths
by Kuroi Hakuchou
Summary: INU/NA xover It is time for the Chuunin exam, and Naruto's team is eager to participate. But from a distant shinobi nation comes a girl that calls herself Higurashi Kagome. She befriends Naruto, but Naruto's sensei suspects that she is hiding something.
1. Prologue: Jinchuuriki

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or InuYasha (though I wish I could have Kakashi and Sesshoumaru all to myself ***sighs wistfully***)

**Ages: **

Kagome – 3

"talking"

'_thinking_'

Eh-hem, anyway, let's get started

**Prologue: Jinchuuriki**

-o-o-o-

Kagome, kagome  
Kago no naka no tori wa  
Itsu itsu deyaru  
Yoake no ban ni  
Tsuru to kame ga subetta  
Ushiro no shomen dare?

Kagome, kagome  
The bird in the cage  
When will you come out?  
In the evening of the dawn  
The crane and the turtle slipped  
Who is behind you now?

~ 'Kagome Kagome'  
Traditional Japanese Children's Song

-o-o-o-

Rain fell in a light drizzle in a small village in Mizu no Kuni (Land of Water). The sky was a light slate-gray, and every once and in a while the sun peeked through the clouds a little, like it was playing hide and seek with the people that it shone down on. But, then again, this _was _Mizu no Kuni, where the weather was usually cool and where one usually woke to fog due to the lakes in the countryside.

The village that the rain fell upon was nondescript, and made up of only a couple hundred people. But the village, called Amedori ('rain bird'), was also known for its shrine. The shrine was called the Higurashi no Miya (Higurashi Shrine), and even though the shrine was well-known, people rarely went there anymore.

In the courtyard of the shrine, a little girl short of four years was playing in the mud. Her hands were coated in the dark sticky substance, as well as up to her elbows, smudged on her face, and also clung to her short, dark hair that reflected blue highlights. But she paid no mind to that. Carefully, she shaped little mud-pies, humming a tune all the while. Kaa-san (mother, mom) didn't know that she was out here playing and getting dirty. Kaa-san had fallen asleep.

The little girl frowned and paused, her sapphire-blue eyes worried. Soon, kaa-san would wake and find out that her daughter had been outside. She would be very angry; going outside was forbidden, one of the many strict rules placed upon the child. After all, as her kaa-san pointed out everyday, she wasn't supposed to exist. According to kaa-san, she was a bastard child that should never have been born. To the little girl, these terms meant nothing to her, but she did know that for some unknown reason, her kaa-san hated her.

Shrugging, the girl continued to make little mud-pies. Once she was satisfied with the number of pies, she began making little houses with the strange powers she had come to understand she had. Once, she had shown these powers to her kaa-san, hoping that maybe she would be praised for what she had done. But instead, kaa-san had beaten her and forbid her to ever use those powers again. Like she ever really listened to her kaa-san.

The little girl sighed and focused on her task, failing to notice that a man had approached her.

The man squatted down next to her and asked, in a low baritone, "What are you making?"

Startled, the girl stopped what she was doing and looked up. Her gaze landed on a strangely dressed man. He wore a dark cloak that enveloped his whole form, and a painted wooden mask that covered his entire face. Wavy stripes adorned the mask, all of them reaching out to surround the one eyehole on the man's right side. The mask was a little worn; the white and blue paint that made up the wavy designs was flaking off. Above the mask, the man's black hair was spiked but was longer down the back.

Resuming what she had been doing, she answered simply, "A village."

Then she looked up and smiled.

"Wanna help?"

The man chuckled, a deep rich sound, and said, "Iie (no), iie, I'm afraid I can't make mud structures quite like you can."

The little girl decided that she liked this person. Her kaa-san had never told her to never talk to strangers; she had only said to stay inside, be quiet, and avoid being seen. In fact, this man was the first person she had spoken to besides her kaa-san in her entire life.

"What's your name?" asked the stranger.

"Kagome," said the little girl.

"Ka-go-me," said the man slowly, as if testing the sound of it on his tongue.

"It suits you."

"Arigatou (thank you). Kaa-san said she called me that because she wants me locked up forever like the bird in the children's song," replied Kagome, as if she were commenting about the weather.

Behind his mask, the man's one dark eye that peeked out through the eyehole, the one that could actually see, narrowed.

"What song?" he asked.

"The one about the bird and the cage, and the crane and turtle slipping before the dawn. I've never played the game that goes with the song with the other kids in the village. They don't know I exist, because kaa-san never lets me go outside."

The man was furious now. How dare that woman not let this child outside to be in the open air! In fact, if he hadn't just used a sleeping Ninjutsu (ninja technique) on her, this poor child would still be inside, trapped and all alone.

Eyes brightening, Kagome looked back up at him.

"Oi (hey), Otoko-san (Mr. Man ^.^), what's your name?" she asked.

Directing his attention back to the child, he smiled behind his mask.

"Otoko-san is just fine. Besides, I came here to speak with you."

The little girl frowned.

"What for?"

Drawing out a small ceramic vase with a lid, the man said, "You see, I have something very precious in here. I can't just carry it around; the vase might break, you understand?"

He received a nod from the little girl.

"Otoko-san, what's in the vase? What has that got to do with me?" asked Kagome.

The man leaned forward and spoke in a low voice.

"What I have in here…is a youkai (spirit, demon)."

"A youkai?" asked Kagome, blinking.

She knew very well what a youkai was. After all, the Higurashi no Miya held ancient scrolls dating back to centuries before when youkai had supposedly roamed the earth like human beings did now. And even though she wasn't yet four years old, Kagome knew how to read. Being stuck in a shrine all day made one very bored, and the scrolls were a nice opportunity of getting rid of boredom. But youkai were supposed to be extinct…weren't they?

To the man's surprise, Kagome laughed.

"You're funny, Otoko-san! But youkai don't exist anymore!"

The man's one eye twinkled behind his mask; this child amused him. She had an innocent charm that most children had, but was increased due to her large blue eyes. And she wasn't even four years of age, by the looks of it.

"True," he admitted. "But every now and then new youkai are born from what we call 'chakra'."

"What's 'chakra'?" asked Kagome, her eyes lighting with curiosity. She was always eager for new information.

"Chakra is the energy all living things have in their bodies, a mixture of energies from using your legs and arms, and energies from the soul. But humans have learned how to control it, and humans who have are called 'ninja.'"

"Oh, I know what ninja are. Kaa-san doesn't like them very much. I don't see why, because the ninja of this country protect us."

For a few moments, the man remained silent. The child's mother had a good reason for hating ninja, but he wasn't about to voice them to the child.

"What's wrong, Otoko-san? Did I say something wrong?" asked Kagome worriedly.

"Iie, I was just thinking. But as I was saying, some youkai are born from chakra, made by humans. Currently, there are ten known youkai, and they are called 'Bijuu (Tailed Beast(s)' by ninja. But I'm the only one who knows of the tenth Bijuu, and I have it with me."

To emphasize his point, the man held up the vase and it rattled from the inside for a moment. Excited and curious, Kagome leaned forward for a closer look, not noticing that she was squishing some of her mud houses in the process. Her mouth formed an 'o' shape, her blue eyes twinkling. The vase rattled again, this time with more force.

'_Chikushou, the seal is wearing off_,' thought the man.

"Anyway, Kagome-chan – I can call you Kagome-chan, can't I?" he asked, and received a nod, "Good, now I came here because I decided you are the best possible candidate for protecting this Bijuu. She's special, you see, and not just anyone can take care of her."

"'She'?" inquired Kagome.

The man nodded and said, "Indeed. This youkai is a girl, and her name is Kawarubi ('change tail'), because she never has the same number of tails. Therefore, her power is always changing, and that can be dangerous. But that is why I chose you, because you possess spiritual powers that can handle her without damage to yourself."

Kagome looked excited now, overjoyed with the prospect of getting a youkai to watch over. Then she frowned. What if kaa-san found the vase? What if she asked what it was, and worse, broke it in one of her fits of anger?

"How am I going to take care of her? If kaa-san finds out that I have a youkai in the shrine, she might try to destroy it!" she cried out in fear.

Smirking behind his mask, the man replied, "That is why I'm going to put her in a place that your kaa-san won't be able to get at her. Even if your kaa-san discovers the Bijuu's existence, she won't be able to do anything about it."

"Where are you going to put her?"

"Inside of you."

Kagome's eyes went wide in shock. _Inside of her?_ How was he going to do that?

"Inside of me?" she questioned, trying to comprehend what this man was trying to say.

"Hai, inside of you. I currently have the Kawarubi under a temporary seal, but it _is _temporary. Even now she is trying to escape."

The vase rattled again, this time with even more force than the previous two times. The seal was wearing off, and fast.

"I need to seal her inside of you, immediately. If she were to escape, she would wreak havoc on this countryside like the bloodthirsty beast she is. I need to seal her between your shoulder blades."

Kagome became aware of the desperate tone in the man's voice, and mistook it for concern for the people in Mizu no Kuni. But the man wasn't desperate for that reason.

'_I need to get this Bijuu off my hands quick before it starts a war. I have to keep a low profile; I'm supposed to be dead, after all_,' he thought.

"O-okay, what do I have to do?" asked Kagome.

"You'll have to remove your yukata (informal cotton kimono), so that I can have access to your back," said the man. (1)

The next few minutes went by quickly. The man Kagome knew as Otoko-san had her lay facedown on the wet and muddy ground while he began writing circles on the ground with kanji. Then he pricked Kagome's finger with a sharp object, which she couldn't see, and began tracing more symbols on her back between her two shoulders.

"I'm almost done," he informed her.

"Otoko-san," said Kagome in a quiet voice. "Will this hurt?"

Deciding not to lie, the man said, "Hai (yes). A lot."

Squeezing her eyes shut and fighting back nausea, Kagome focused on taking deep, calming breaths. She recited Buddhist proverbs in her head, ones she had read on scrolls in the shrine.

'_Hana wa ne ni kaeru. Inguwa wa, kuruma no wa. Makanu tane wa haenu…_' she recited, trying to forget that in a few moments, she would be in a world of pain.

Finishing the seal on the little girl's back, the man made a similar seal on the surface of the vase. Making several hand seals which mainly consisted of the seals for 'Ne (rat)', 'Ushi (ox)', and 'Tora (tiger)', he said, "Fuuinjutsu: Youkaibuuin! (Sealing Technique: Demon Seal!')" (2)

Both seals, the one on the vase and the one between Kagome's shoulders started glowing bright red. Kagome's mouth opened in a soundless scream, and her back arched in pain. Her hands scrabbled in the mud, trying to find something, anything, to hold on to and never let go. Tears streaked down her cheeks, momentarily blinding her.

Most of the pain was focused between her shoulders, where the man had drawn something with her blood. It was a burning, white-hot pain that felt like fire spreading through her veins. And it did spread. Soon the pain was unbearable, as it had encompassed her entire body full force.

'_It hurts, it hurts! Kami-sama (God), onegai (please), please let it stop!_' she chanted in her head.

Black spots swam in front of her eyes, even though tears blinded them. The last thought she had before losing consciousness was wondering how Otoko-san knew about her strange powers, also known as reiki (holy energy). And when the darkness overtook her, Kagome welcomed it gratefully.

-o-o-o-

Once the child had stopped convulsing, the strange man dressed her once again in her yukata. Then he stood and gazed down emotionlessly at her. He was a fool to be taken in by her cute nature, and he pushed away any thoughts of having a connection with her.

Already, the Bijuu he had sealed within her had given her aftereffects. Pale, silvery-blue streaks now ran through her hair, and a stripe the same color ran down her spine from the base of her skull to her tailbone. It was likely that when she woke she would have heightened sense of smell and hearing, seeing as how the Kawarubi was an inuyoukai (dog demon). The seal he had drawn on her back had also become one with her skin; it was the same blue as the stripe, and the stripe did not disrupt or go through it at all.

Smirking at the seed he had planted, the man turned to leave. He cast one last look at the girl. She would be hated; all of the Jinchuuriki were. And it was that hate that would harden her heart and give her strength. If everything turned out as he planned, she would hate humankind with a vengeance.

The strange man dispelled the Ninjutsu he had placed on the child's mother. In a few moments, she would wake, and discover that her daughter had become the host of a demon entity. And the poor child would suffer for it. But the child had made her choice; she hadn't been forced to become a Jinchuuriki, she had made the decision on her own. That way if the girl happened to encounter him in the future, she could not blame him for what she had become.

Using his special skills with speed, the man left as quickly as he had arrived, like a phantom in the night. The two people he had left behind were pawns in his grand scheme, nothing more. First the woman, and now the child, Higurashi Kagome.

-o-o-o-

_~One Month Later~_

'_Why is everything red?_' thought a blue-eyed little girl.

She had woken in a field, and had been confused. But what confused her even more was that the field was soaked in a sticky red substance. Gazing down stupidly at the red substance that coated her entire body, she tried to remember what happened. _Nothing_. She couldn't remember anything.

Panic overtaking her, her head swiveled around in both directions. To her horror, the bodies of villagers lay around her, their flesh frozen and their throats slashed. Standing up, she realized she was the only living thing in sight. Weapons lay forgotten on the ground, those of ninja included. Their bodies were among the dead.

'_Why were they here? Who killed them?'_ thought the scared little girl.

The ground was scorched in some places and frozen in others, as if a fire had started and frost had put it out. But there was no fire now, just the acrid smell of smoke and the metallic smell of blood. Horrified and traumatized, the little girl realized something. She had no memory of who she was and where she was. She couldn't remember her name, how old she was, what family she came from, and what country she as in.

"Who am I?" she whispered.

Clutching her head, she tried to remember, but it only resulted in a headache.

"WHO AM I?"

_**Owari (End)**_

-o-o-o-

**Vocabulary Whose Definitions Are Too Long to Put In the Story (^.^;)  
**  
Chikushou – 'Damn it!', 'Shit!', 'Son of a bitch!'

Chan – a suffix usually given to girls you are familiar with or someone who is younger than you that is either a girl or a child

_These are actual Buddhist proverbs in Japanese I found while surfing the net at one point_

Hana wa ne ni kaeru – The flower goes back to its root

Inguwa wa, kuruma no wa – Cause-and-effect is like a wheel

Makanu tane wa haenu – Nothing will grow, if the seed be not sown

**Author's Notes**

(1) No, he's not a pedophile!

(2) Totally made this up, don't know if it's right or not

How'd I do? Remember, this is only the prologue, so next chapter will be set in the main storyline when Naruto is already a Genin. Some of you have probably already guessed who 'Otoko-san' is, but I'm not tellin'! Not now at least. All will be revealed in later chapters! So **please review**, 'cuz this is my first story. And you can flame me all you like, so that way I'll be motivated to write better and better! ^.^

Ja ne!


	2. Chapter I: Arrival

Kyaa! I was _so_ happy when I opened up my Inbox and saw all of the reviews that everyone sent me! I had just expected two or three, but there were much more than I had expected! Arigatou gozaimasu, everyone!

Oh, and as a little note, there will not be very much romance involved for the first few chapters, 'kay? And I _did _write these ahead of time. I had to wait to get an e-mail account in order to upload these -_-;

Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto or InuYasha, though I still wish I could have Kakashi and Sesshoumaru ***jumps up in realization*** But I DO own THIS story! Mwah-ha-ha-haa!

**Ages:**

Kagome – 13

Naruto – 12

Sasuke – 12

Sakura – 12

Kakashi – 26

InuYasha – 15

Miroku – 16

Konohamaru – 8

Moegi – 8

Udon – 8

Gaara – 12

Kankurou – 14

Sesshoumaru – 19 (who doesn't actually appear in this chapter)

"talking"

'_thinking_'

'**Bijuu talking to host**'

**Chapter One: Arrival**

-o-o-o-

Muchuu de (hayaku) kake nakute kita  
Urusai kurai ni harisake sou na koudou no takanari  
Hibite (yonde) iru kimi no koe  
Koko de tachidomaru you na jikan wa nai sa  
READY STEADY GO

I came running frantically (hastily)  
The throb of my heartbeats feels deafening enough to burst  
Your voice is echoing (shouting)  
There's no time to be like standing still here  
READY STEADY GO

~ 'READY STEADY GO' (Fullmetal Alchemist Opening Theme 2)  
L'Arc~en~Ciel

-o-o-o-

It was a bright sunny day in Konohagakure no Sato (Village Hidden Among Tree Leaves.) A young Genin ('low ninja') named Uzumaki Naruto was currently sitting up in bed and yawning. He was a very interesting-looking boy, with spiky, bright yellow hair, electric-blue eyes, and three stripes on each cheek that made him look like he had whiskers. Currently, he was wearing a sleeping cap that resembled a dog and a black tee-shirt, but his favorite clothes to wear during the day was a bright orange jumpsuit, with dark blue patches and red circles in the shapes of spirals signifying he was a ninja, that drew everyone's attention.

As soon as he finished his huge yawn, Naruto slumped tiredly with tears in the corner of his eyes. (1) The light filtering through his window revealed that his room was in disarray; shinobi (ninja, esp. male ninja) scrolls, notebooks, and other items littered the floor. Naruto got up, opened the door of his room, and went into the kitchen.

Tiredly, he made himself a piece of toast with butter spread on top. He sat down at the table, which was also dirty. Empty cups of ramen, a bag of chips (2), a cup, dirty plates and bowls, a half-eaten apple, and a small carton of milk, as well as a couple slices of bread were seen. Naruto picked up the milk carton and shook it. A chunky, sloshing sound could be heard, announcing that the milk had gone bad. Naruto sighed tiredly and took a bite of his toast, chewing slowly, his eyes looking blearily ahead.

A few minutes later, after dressing in his trademark clothes, Naruto could be seen outside his apartment, grasping the door handle and locking his apartment up. His keychain looked like a ninken (ninja hound) (3). Naruto placed the keychain in his pocket and reached up to tighten the blue hitai-ite (forehead protector) on his head. The Konohagakure (Hidden in the Tree Leaves) symbol faced directly forward. Once he was finished that, he smiled with determination, his eyes becoming little 'U' slits.

Yelling, he began stretching, and then said, "I'm going to complete missions today, too!"

Running off to meet his teammates, he cried, "Let's go!"

-o-o-o-

At a small bridge over a river, two young Genin were waiting for their other teammate and their sensei. One was named Uchiha Sasuke, and he was currently leaning up against the handrail of the bridge, he elbows propped on the rail and one foot leisurely crossing the other. His black hair was spiked in the back, and he wore a dark blue shirt with the Uchiha fan symbol on the back and white shorts. His black hitai-ite was on his forehead in the same fashion as a certain blonde-haired ninja. Sasuke's expression was of stoic coolness.

The other person was a girl named Haruno Sakura. She wore a dark red china dress over black shorts. Her hair was a shocking pink that went down halfway to her hips in the back, and her bangs went a little past her chin. The dark blue hitai-ite she wore on her head did not go on her abnormally large forehead; instead, she wore it on top of her head like she would a headband. Sakura stood with her arms folded against her chest, and her expression was one of frustration, her eyes closed and brow furrowed.

When she heard running footsteps approaching, her eyes opened in surprise and she looked up. She turned to her right to see Naruto come running up to her.

"Good morning, Sakura-chan!" said Naruto cheerfully.

Then his expression turned to one of resentment as he spotted Sasuke, who sported the same expression on his face. Sakura looked back and forth between them in confusion. Naruto had his hands on his hips, and then folded them across his chest and turning away with a 'hmph' like Sasuke. Sakura looked exasperated.

'_They're doing it again… These two have been acting weird since they returned from Nami no Kuni (Land of Waves)_,' she thought.

Then she looked down and sighed.

'_I feel awkward now…_'

Inner Sakura was currently fuming with anger.

'_Kakashi-sensei (-teacher), hurry up and come, damn it!_' said Inner Sakura.

-o-o-o-

Many minutes later, all three Genin still waited on the bridge. Sakura and Naruto looked about ready to fall over from waited for so long, and even Sasuke slumped in exhaustion. Suddenly, a certain silver-haired Jounin ('high ninja') appeared crouching on top of the torii at the left end of the bridge.

"Hello, everybody. Ohayou (good morning)," said Kakashi-sensei casually, his right hand held up in greeting.

His students looked up in anger. Naruto was halfway crouched down, his knees bent to the side and his arms in front of him with his hands clenched in fists. Sakura had one hand on her hip. Sasuke stood with his arms folded across his chest, but he wasn't facing Kakashi like the other two. Instead, he stood at an angle.

"I got lost today, so–" began Kakashi, but was cut off by an outraged, "YOU'RE LATE!" from Naruto and Sakura.

Sasuke unfolded his arms and placed them on his hips, glancing at his other teammates.

Kakashi jumped down from the torii and approached his students. Naruto began talking excitedly, his hands clenched by his chin.

"Ano sa (form of 'hey'), ano sa, Kakashi-sensei! We, the Seventh Squad, have been only doing easy missions, right?"

Kakashi put his hands in front of him as if to ward off Naruto's outburst.

"Isn't there a mission where I can play an active role, and something that's more…exciting?" continued Naruto.

His eyes lit on fire, as well as the background (4) as he began full-out yelling.

"Something that makes "my way of the ninja" you know, and my heart you know, like this!" he yelled, throwing up his fists and bringing them back down sharply, to emphasize his point.

His eyes blazed even hotter.

"Uh… Oh, I see, I see. I see what you're trying to get at," said Kakashi, leaning back a little and putting up his hands again.

Naruto's expression turned into one of anger and his head turned swiftly over to Sasuke. Sasuke had his eyes closed, but opened them in surprise when he felt Naruto's angry gaze on him. Naruto turned fully towards his rival, his hands up near his face as if he were about to judo-chop Sasuke any second.

'_Kuso (damn)_,' Naruto thought. '_This guy tries to get me indebted to him during missions and takes away all the good parts_. _I'm not going to lose to you!_"

Sakura was glaring at Naruto, and Sasuke had a 'WTF are you looking at' type of expression on his face.

Sakura twitched and thought, '_This guy…_'

Sasuke looked blankly at Naruto, who brought his right hand up near his face and clenched it.

'_Today…_' he thought angrily, getting lost in a daydream.

_***Naruto's Daydream***_

_A wounded Sasuke fell down onto his knees. He looked up as a kunai (throwing knife) came flying towards him, but Naruto deflected it with his own. Naruto looked up, stars sparkling around him._

"_Hmph, you're a guy that needs help all the time," said Naruto, putting on what seemed to be an egotistical expression. _

_*__**End Daydream**__*_

Naruto stood in the same position as before with an evilly determined face.

"I want to say something like that!" he exclaimed, clenching his fists near his face and moving forward.

He was so caught up in his own world that he failed to notice that his teammates and sensei had started leaving.

"Oi, Naruto, what are you doing? We have a mission," called Kakashi.

"Roger!" shouted Naruto.

"You're noisy!" complained Sakura.

-o-o-o-

The first mission was weeding at a random woman's house. Sakura and Sasuke were already working in the garden, but Naruto was sitting near a flowerbed and glaring at Sasuke. Sasuke was too busy pulling up weeds at the base of a tree to noticed Naruto's heated glare.

Naruto turned towards the flowerbed and rolled up his sleeves, saying, "I'm not going to lose to Sasuke!"

Naruto began pulling up all the plants in the flowerbed in a flurry of motion.

A few minutes later, Naruto stood by a pile of plants that was nearly as tall as he was, rubbing under his nose and saying, "Hee hee hee!"

He failed to notice the owner of the garden had come up and seen what he had done.

"Hey, you…" she said.

"Ha?" uttered Naruto, turning with surprise and seeing an angry portly woman with her hands on her hips.

"Obaa-chan (old woman, grandma), I'm done pulling out all the weeds!" said Naruto proudly.

The woman lowered her head and closed her mouth and eyes tightly.

"Ha? What's wrong?" asked Naruto a little worriedly.

The woman began shaking as she said, "Those aren't weeds–"

"Hn?" said Naruto, his expression becoming alarmed.

"Those are the herbs I've been cultivating!" yelled the woman for all of Konoha (Tree Leaf) to hear.

Shortly after, Naruto's loud cry of "Itai (ouch)!" could be heard as well, as he got pummeled by the woman.

-o-o-o-

The next mission was cleaning up trash in one of the rivers in Konoha. All three Genin were almost knee-deep in the river, while Kakashi lay in the shade of a tree, reading his infamous Icha Icha book. Using huge tongs, Naruto placed an aluminum can in the trash basket on his back. He sported a black eye on the right side of his face, a courtesy of a certain portly woman.

Naruto stepped forward, scanning the river bottom for trash, and then lost his footing. He fell backwards with a yell. Sasuke and Sakura looked up in surprise, only to see Naruto try to doggy-paddle his way back upstream.

"Somebody help…!" he yelled, gargling on river water.

Then he went over the waterfall that was downstream a little ways.

"FREE FALL!" screamed Naruto as he went over the side.

He was still yelling until he realized that he was no longer falling.

"Ha?"

He looked up to see Sasuke hanging from a rope hooked to a tree branch leaning near the falls.

"You idiot," was all Sasuke said.

Naruto's eyebrows twitched in fury at being saved by Sasuke, of all people.

-o-o-o-

The mission after that was walking dogs for a client. Naruto chose the biggest dog, a big mastiff-type dog. Unfortunately, the dog was able to drag him around.

The dog began pulling Naruto towards a fenced off area with the sign, 'Trap Field: Do Not Enter' on it.

"Oi, don't go that way!" said Naruto in protest, but the dog continued to pull him.

"Oi, come on!" Naruto protested, as he and the dog got closer to the fenced area.

Sasuke and Sakura, who were both walking much smaller dogs, watched in exasperation. Kakashi was sitting on a tree branch above them, content in reading his porn.

"That baka (idiot)," stated Sasuke simply.

Sakura sighed and said, indignation in her voice, "That's what happens for choosing the biggest dog."

"Hold it… Matte (wait)! That's the Trap Field!" yelled Naruto in horror.

Suddenly, a gust of wind rocked the forest, and the dog that Naruto was walking stopped just before it entered the trap field.

"N-nani (w-what)? He stopped?" said Naruto, half relieved and half bewildered.

Another breeze of wind came, and the big dog turned to sniff at the wind. This time, the two smaller dogs turned toward the breeze, as well.

"What do they smell?" asked Sakura rhetorically; Sasuke shrugged.

Naruto used the distraction to pull his dog away from the minefield and back towards the others. Up in the tree, a delicious scent hit Kakashi's nose. (5) The scent was surprising enough for him to look up from his beloved Icha Icha Paradise. Looking at the direction the smell was coming from, he sniffed.

'_This scent, it's similar to Naruto's, except a lot stronger. Feminine too…_" he thought.

Shrugging, he looked down and continued reading.

After that, the mission went by smoothly, except for the fact that the dogs occasionally wanted to follow the smell that the breeze brought on.

-o-o-o-

"Sugoi (cool, awesome)! This village is huge!" said a young girl with deep blue eyes.

She and her teammates were currently wandering around the streets of Konohagakure. Their sensei had gone to the Hokage's office to report that they have arrived for the Chuunin ('middle ninja') exam from Tsuki no Kuni (Country of the Moon).

She was an interesting-looking girl. Her hair was jet black and reflected blue highlights. It was cropped short and stuck up in spikes in the back, but only on the bottom. Although it was shorter in the back, her hair got longer as it got closer to her face. (6) But what was so interesting about her hair was that its tips were silvery-blue in color.

Once, when she had been younger, the iridescent tips had been stripes in her hair, but now it had receded to only the tips, probably due to her cutting it so often. For some strange reason, it grew at least an inch a week, a reason that only her and those closest to her knew.

Another strange thing about the girl was that she was dressed in rather unusual clothes. Her top was a simple dark-blue fishnet tee shirt with the fishnet only exposing her arms underneath. It was secured around the neck by a dark-blue strip of silk so that when she bent down, no one could see down her shirt. The rest of the shirt was simple dark-blue silk that weighed practically nothing and covered everything. On the back of her shirt was a silver crescent moon that shimmered when light hit it.

She also wore dark blue shorts that went down past her knees. The remaining lengths of her legs were bound with bandages for modesty. Of course, she wore ninja sandals, which were dark blue as well. Above her ninja sandals, she wore weights that were carefully concealed under a pair of dark-blue leg mufflers (7).

Her hitai-ite wore the emblem of Tsukigakure (Hidden Among the Moon), her home village. It was blue (8) and was tied so that the Tsukigakure symbol faced forwards. She wore dark-blue nin gloves on her hand that had steel protectors sewn on the back, most commonly seen on ANBU members. On the ring finger of her right hand was a silver ring with a blue stone.

Bandages were wrapped midway to her elbows after the gloves. A katana (thin Japanese sword) was strapped to her back, as well as a quiver with a bow tucked inside it with the arrows. Also strapped to her back was a meter-long rectangle box made of pine (9).

"Keh, I don't see what's so special about it," said one of her teammates arrogantly, a boy with long silver hair and honey-colored eyes.

"Ehhh! InuYasha! You don't have to be a spoil-sport!" said the girl, turning towards him sourly. (10)

InuYasha was wearing his black hitai-ite sideways slightly so that the emblem on it faced on the corner of his forehead. He was dressed in a fishnet shirt as well, though this one was red and almost see-through where the silk covered his chest. He too had a silver moon on the back of his shirt. His pants were sashinuki hakama (11), and they were bright red. His ninja sandals were black like his hitai-ite.

At his side hung a rusty old katana in its saya (sword sheath). His silver hair was pulled back in a samurai-style ponytail (12). It was rough to the touch and tended to get tangled easily. Around his neck was a rosary that consisted of round dark purple, almost black, beads and magatama beads. (13) On the same finger as the girl, he wore a silver ring with a red stone.

"Sou desu (that's right), sou desu, InuYasha. If you keep that attitude, you'll never attract the ladies!" said their other teammate playfully.

This teammate had dark violet eyes that sparkled mischievously most of the time, and had black hair that he wore back in a tiny ponytail. He wore yet another fishnet shirt that was like InuYasha's except that it was dark purple. He wore dark purple hakama that had thinner pant legs than normal, so to allow more freedom of movement.

His hitai-ite was around his neck and was black. He had a staff strapped to his back, one that a priest would usually carry. On his hands were ninja gloves that left the fingers bare but went all the way up to his elbows. He wore a rosary of beads on his right hand for decoration. (14) And again he wore a silver ring on his ring finger of his left hand that had a purple stone set in it.

"Shut it, Miroku! I can get women if I want to!" snapped InuYasha to his male teammate.

"I highly doubt it," muttered the girl.

Unfortunately for her, InuYasha had keen hearing.

"You be quiet too, Kagome! I don't need your input either!"

"Urusai (shut up)! You're not the boss of me!" yelled the girl now known as Kagome, who had stopped walking and was currently yelling in InuYasha's face.

Passersby were now giving them strange looks, and Miroku had a fake smile plastered on his face, even though he was currently sweatdropping. There were two ways that this would end; either Kagome or InuYasha would give up because they didn't have a better insult than the other, or their verbal spat became a full-out ninja brawl. And Kagome always won when it came to the latter.

"Listen, gaki! I'm older than you, so that makes me your superior!"

"If you're older than me, then how come I'm on your team, yarou (ass)!"

They were face-to-face now. Kagome was standing on her tiptoes, and InuYasha was bending down. More and more people were staring, and some of them were Konoha shinobi.

"InuYasha! Why don't you go find yourself a nice ramen shop to cool down in?"

Miroku suggested loudly, not wanting to get in trouble with the local ninja.

At the word 'ramen', InuYasha's head flew up and he said, "Ramen? Where?"

Apparently, he hadn't been listening. An angry tick mark appeared on Miroku's forehead but he forced himself to stay calm.

"I said, why don't you go find yourself a nice ramen shop to cool down in?" repeated Miroku.

"Keh, can't you see that I'm busy, Miroku?" said the silver-haired boy, crossing his arms and closing his eyes.

Kagome was currently glaring at InuYasha.

"InuYasha, people are staring," said Miroku angrily out of the corner of his mouth.

"Fine! If it'll make you shut your trap, I'll ditch this gaki and get some food. Happy?" grumbled InuYasha.

"Ditch me? Oi! He didn't say that!" protested Kagome.

"So long, squirt! I'm off to get some chow!" said InuYasha, who mussed up Kagome's hair and took off over the rooftops in a flash of red.

"Oi! You coward!" Kagome called after him, and then turned towards Miroku, her eyes ablaze and an angry tick mark on her forehead.

Rubbing the back of his neck and sweatdropping, Miroku said, "Eh heh heh, I'm going to look around the city and chat with the locals."

Then he was gone too, in a flash of purple.

"You–! Miroku! Locals? You mean 'local girls'!" growled Kagome, clenching a fist in front of her face; it was shaking from her anger.

Sighing and stuffing her hands into her pockets, Kagome strode off down the street, ignoring the staring people. Those jerks had _left_ her! Some teammates they were! Kagome mentally slapped herself. She had been alone before she had met them, she could take care of herself. Sighing, Kagome slumped over slightly as she walked. She hardly ever got along with InuYasha, and she could get along with Miroku as long as he didn't flirt with women around her. Kagome was only thirteen, so Miroku had never groped her behind like he had with other women; he would be considered a pedophile if he had.

Suddenly she heard:

"Look at that kunoichi (female ninja)!"

"She's kawaii (cute), ain't she?"

"I wonder how old she is?"

She froze in her tracks. Swiftly she turned and spotted the culprits. It was a trio of Konoha shinobi, all boys in their early teens. When they saw they had been heard, they smiled at her and one even waved. Kagome shot them a death glare and continue walking.

"S-scary…"

"She could probably outglare Uchiha Sasuke."

"Un (yeah), and that kid's scary…"

Snorting to herself, Kagome observed the different shops on the street. There was a teashop, a bookshop, and several other shops further down the street that she couldn't see what they were just yet. She looked at each one curiously, noticing how fancy they were compared to the ones in her home village, Tsukigakure.

Tsuki no Kuni was far to the west, and was a much smaller country than Hi no Kuni (Country of Fire), which was probably the largest country out of all the countries. And Tsukigakure was a small village made up of only a few hundred people. The reason why there was even a ninja village there in the first place was because the local people, who had originally been houshi (wandering monk(s)) and miko (Shinto priestess(es)), had been attacked by rogue ninja years before. So in defense, they had trained to become ninja.

Kagome was becoming unnerved. Why were people staring at her? Was it because she wore the hitai-ite of Tsukigakure, which had the emblem of a crescent moon with a smaller crescent moon on the inside of the missing half of the other? Or…had they already guessed what she was?

"Look at her hair…"

"It sticks up almost like his, doesn't it?"

"Is that blue natural?"

"Of course it's natural! A lot of shinobi have hair colors like that!"

Who were they comparing her to? Sure, her hair was short and stuck up in the back, but not a whole lot. And yes, it did have blue that could have easily been dyed.

Furrowing her brow angrily, Kagome walked faster. Why was it that people always seemed to sense what she was? That she was different, a freak? Even when she had been a waif on the streets, people had stopped to stare, to point, to whisper. Was it her hair? Was it the bluish line going down her spine that could be seen going down her neck from behind? Or did these people have some weird sixth sense that it alerted them to what she had inside her body?

Kagome could remember the day when she realized that she had a youkai sealed within her.

_***Flashback***_

_A four year-old Kagome was trapped at the end of an alley while several ruffians beat up on her. They were members of a street gang in the village. _

"_Oi! Gaki! What are you doing on our turf!"_

"_Everyone around here knows that nobody's allowed here except us!"_

"_She's pretty kawaii. We should have some fun with her!"_

"_O-onegai…I didn't know! I promise I won't come back!" said Kagome, covering her head with her arms to block the blows._

"_Aww! Isn't that kawaii! She's trying to make a deal with us!"_

"_Nice try, gaki, but we don't make deals with anyone!"_

_Suddenly, a voice echoed in Kagome's head, a soft motherly type of voice._

'_**Let me handle them, koinu (pup).**__'_

_Kagome felt herself changing, her fingernails lengthening to turn into claws, and her canines growing longer. A feral snarl tore from her throat. The ruffians paused, confused._

"_Nan da (what the)-?"_

_Kagome felt herself swipe at them, growling like an angry dog. As she did, a huge stream of ice erupted from her palm and flew towards the men. _

"_What the hell!"_

"_Run for it!"_

_The men fled from the alley, but one stopped at the entrance to look back at her._

"_Y-you freak! Stay the hell away from us!" he said, pointing._

_Once the men had fled, Kagome's claws shrank back into normal fingernails and her canines returned to their regular size. She blinked; how had she done that? _

_Had she even done it? It had felt like someone else had controlled her body and not her._

'_**You are correct. It was I who attacked those men.**__'_

'_W-who're you?' asked Kagome shakily._

'_**I? I have no real name, but I was called Kawarubi by the one who sealed me in you.**__'_

'_Ka-wa-ru-bi? What are you? Why are you inside me?' asked Kagome._

'_**I'm what you would call a "youkai." As to why I'm inside you, I had no control over that. Some foolish shinobi captured me after I had just come into being and sealed me in you soon after.**__'_

'_Why can't I remember that happening? Why can't I remember why I woke up in a field of bodies?' asked Kagome sorrowfully._

_Kagome received a feeling of panic from the strange creature inside of her. Was it worried for her? Was it worried that she was going to cry? An idea popped in her head. She couldn't keep calling the so-called 'Kawarubi' an 'it', now could she?_

'_Are you a onna no ko (girl) or a otoko no ko (boy) youkai?' asked Kagome to the Kawarubi._

_A feeling of surprise came across their mental connection._

'_**You are a strange onna no ko, to ask me that. I would say that I am female.**__'_

'_Ehhh! I'm not strange!'_

'_**You certainly are to other ningen (human(s). You will be hated because of me.**__'_

_Kagome really didn't care. This was someone who spoke to her without scorn or hate, and she relished in it._

'_Ne (hey), can I summon hyou (ice) without you helping?' asked Kagome excitedly._

'_**Hai. That is one of your Jinchuuriki traits.**__'_

'_What's a "Jinchuuriki"?'_

'_**The host of a Bijuu, a Tailed Beast, like me. Now, to summon hyou, just imagine it and where it will appear. This only works if it's something within your range of sight.**__'_

_Kagome held out her hand. Squeezing her eyes shut, she imagined ice spreading around her feet. Suddenly, she heard the cracking of ice moving around them._

_It had worked! Kagome's heart thumped excitedly as she saw the translucent layer of ice on the ground in front of her. _

"_Sugoi!" said Kagome out loud._

'…_**You are a **_**very **_**strange creature.**__'_

_***End Flashback***_

Kagome smiled faintly at the memory. Becoming acquainted with Kawarubi had been the first real good thing that had happened in her life. And her life had been harsh before meeting InuYasha, Sesshoumaru, and the others in Tsukigakure.

She was brought back sharply into reality when she heard those same boys who had been calling her 'kawaii' earlier talking. Apparently they had followed her down the street.

"Just ask her out, baka!"

"Have you forgotten the look she gave us?"

"C'mon, don't be a chicken!"

"I am not a chicken!"

Deciding to confront these boys verbally, Kagome whirled around and spotted them. They froze as if they had been caught doing something they weren't supposed to be doing. Sweatdrops appeared on their heads as they met the cold glare that Kagome was giving off.

"Oi, I have no interest in any of you, so leave me the hell alone," she said, tucking the bangs on the right side of her face behind her ear.

Her action had the desired effect; all three boys recoiled and stared, and with good reason. On the right side of Kagome's face, there was a ropy white scar. It followed the contour of the side of her face, and was a relic of her old life of surviving on her own, made by a kunai. The scar curved down her jaw a little ways, and she had almost lost her life because of how close the wound had been to her carotid artery.

But what came next was not the reaction that she had been expecting.

"Sugoi! That's an awesome scar!"

"That means you're strong, right?"

"What's your name?"

"Ehhhh?" said Kagome, her face flushing red.

She was confused. What on earth was wrong with these boys? She didn't flaunt her scar lightly; that was why she kept it hidden, after all.

"Oh, did we embarrass you?"

"You look so kawaii when you blush!"

"Oi, oi! What's your name?"

Kagome regained her composure, slightly.

"L-leave me alone! What's wrong with you!" she said, stuttering in embarrassment, her face as red as a tomato.

Then she turned and walked away swiftly, her back as stiff as a board. Several people in the street gave her amused looks.

'_Ah…young love…_' was going through several of their minds. (15)

Kagome was left with three apparently love-struck boys that were still dogging her steps.

"My name's Daisuke! I'm a Chuunin!"

"So what! I'm Kira, but I'm still a Genin…"

"Oi! Oi! Oi! I'm Gin! Won't you please tell me your name!"

Eyebrows twitching in anger, Kagome thought, '_Kami-sama (God) must really love toying with my life._'

-o-o-o-

A square box disguised as a rock and had two eyeholes cut out in the front approached Naruto from behind.

"Huh?" said Naruto as he turned to hear what was making that weird scraping sound.

The box stopped as he turned to look. Naruto sweatdropped as he looked at it, his eyebrows twitching.

'_Is that…supposed to be a rock?_' he thought.

He walked forward a few paces, and heard the 'rock' follow him. He stopped, and the 'rock' did, as well. Then he ran back and forth several times, gaining speed at each pass, and the 'rock' chased after him. At the eleventh pass, he turned around, and the 'rock' came to a screeching halt as he put his hands on his hips and peered down at it.

Pointing at it, he said, "A square rock with two holes like that does not exist! It's _so_ obvious!"

A muffled voice that sounded very young and very familiar to Naruto came from the box.

"I should have expected that from the man whom I have high hopes for and is also my rival!"

A bright light began flashing from the box, and Naruto stared in shock.

Suddenly, there were three smoke explosions of different colors. The first explosion was blue, the second was yellow, and the third was red. As the smoke cleared away, it revealed three coughing ninja-in-training.

"Hey, you used too much gunpowder!" said the boy in the middle.

They glanced up when they realized that Naruto was staring at them.

The girl in the squad jumped up and said, spinning around, "The one who possesses the sex appeal of an adult, and the kunoichi from the senior group, Moegi!"

The next one to jump up in a pose was the boy on the left, who said, "The one who loves dividing numbers, Udon!"

The last was the boy who had spoken from the 'rock', and he cried, "This village's number one genius ninja, Konohamaru!"

Then all three of the children then posed together and shouted, with obvious rehearsal, "The three of us make the Konohamaru Corps!"

The lenses of the goggles on their foreheads flashed simultaneously.

Naruto stood with his hands behind his head and said with boredom, "Just as I thought, it was the three of you."

He looked closer in surprise.

"Hm? Why do the three of you have goggles on?"

Laughing, Konohamaru fingered his goggles like Udon, while Moegi stood and looked cute (16) and said, "We copied the old you!"

"Oh?" said Naruto disinterestedly.

Konohamaru became angry and said, "'Oh?' You've been treating us so cold lately!"

"Ne (and)? What do you want?" said Naruto in the same tone.

In a flash, Konohamaru was saying quietly to Udon, with his arm around his friend's shoulder, "See? He's so cold."

Moegi moved forward and said, "Ano ne (well), Leader do you have time right now?"

Naruto smirked and shook his head.

Then he jerked his thumb towards himself and said enthusiastically, "No. I'm going to train!"

"Ehhhh!" said Konohamaru in outrage, clenching his fists. "You said that you would play Ninja with us!"

Moegi looked worried that Naruto wouldn't play with them, while Udon stood there looking stupid with snot hanging from his nose.

"Ha ha, really?" said Naruto, rubbing the side of his head in a nervous fashion.

'_If I play with these guys, I'll be stuck with them all day!_' thought Naruto with an 'oh, shit' type of expression.

Suddenly, Sakura, who looked really depressed, wobbled her way over to the other four and said, "Hmph, what's the point in ninja playing Ninja?"

She stared at Naruto in a spaced-out sort of way.

"Na, what is it?" asked Naruto nervously, standing up straight and placing a hand behind his head.

Sakura narrowed her eyes, still staring, and thought, '_But still… I'm lower than him…?_'

She was obviously referring to what Sasuke had told her earlier.

_***Flashback***_

"_Ne (hey)! Sasuke-kun, matte (wait)!" said Sakura, chasing after her crush as he walked away._

_Naruto had a pained looked on his face, reaching out towards Sakura. Then he sighed and looked down._

_Sasuke turned to look at Sakura, who was blushing and looking down._

"_Ne (hey), ano ne (um), how does strengthening our teamwork now sound?" she said, looking up and clasping her hands near her face._

"_You're the same as Naruto," said Sasuke bluntly._

_Sakura froze. In her mind, a huge rock saying 'the same as Naruto' fell and was caught by Inner Sakura. Inner Sakura grunted at the weight._

"_If you have time to mind me, go practice a jutsu (technique) or two," continue Sasuke._

_He turned slightly away, looking at Sakura out of the corner of his eye._

"_To be honest, your abilities are lower than Naruto's."_

_Sakura was slouching now. Sasuke's words echoed in her head, and the rock that Inner Sakura held grew bigger and now said, 'Lower than Naruto's, damn it!'_

_Sasuke walked away, and Sakura stood alone in a spotlight._

'_Sou ne (that's right), I've been doing the worst in all the missions,' thought Sakura, her face looking like she was about to burst out sobbing._

_***End Flashback***_

Naruto's cheeks turned bright red under the scrutiny of Sakura's stare and he smiled nervously.

'_Staring at me like that embarrasses me…_' he thought, and then forced himself to laugh, even though he sounded really nervous.

Konohamaru looked up at Naruto, while Moegi and Udon stared at Sakura.

"Nii-chan (big brother), who is this big girl?" he asked, and then turned to look towards Sakura disapprovingly.

'_She's been staring at nii-chan so intensely…_'

A ding was heard, and a light bulb in a caption bubble pointed towards Konohamaru appeared. A look of understanding went across his face and he gasped in understanding. He looked slyly up at Naruto, who was still blushing and looking at Sakura, and rubbed Naruto's back.

"Nii-chan's better than I thought!" said Konohamaru, smirking like a fox.

"Huh?" said Naruto, looking down at his younger rival.

"She's your…" began Konohamaru, and then held out his pinkie, which meant 'girlfriend', "…right?"

Sakura realized what he had said and growled in anger. Naruto stared at Konohamaru's pinkie, then turned away and began laughing nervously.

"You kids are pretty sharp," he said, blushing.

"Chitta (no)!" shouted Sakura as she punched Naruto in the face.

Blood spurted from Naruto's mouth as he flew backwards.

"Nii-chan!" shouted Konohamaru, while Moegi and Udon watched.

Naruto flew back and hit the fence. There was a big crash, and dust, along with a rain of splinters, floated around where Naruto had hit. Sakura stood panting heavily in anger while an eerie green aura flickered around her.

"What did you do?" shouted Konohamaru angrily, shaking his fist at her.

As the dust cleared, it revealed a crumpled Naruto. The fence behind him looked like a miniature nuclear bomb had hit it. Udon and Moegi ran to him to see if he was okay.

Udon knelt down to check him, while Moegi stood over the fallen blonde and said, "Oh, no! Leader!"

"His pulse… His pulse is…!" began Udon.

Naruto had his eyes squinted shut, and he made small grunting/gasping noises as if he were in a lot of pain.

"You ugly girl! Ugly!" shouted Konohamaru furiously at Sakura, angry that Naruto had been hurt.

The background behind Sakura was pitch-black as she cracked her knuckles. A tick mark was visible on her forehead, and her eyes were completely white. Behind her, Inner Sakura rose, eyes shining with fire and fists clenched, as well as a wall of fire behind Inner Sakura. Sakura's hair began to blow in an unseen wind of fury.

Konohamaru, who had tear streaks going down his face, froze. Then his expression became one of horror and he slowly began walking away from Sakura. His eyes bulged as Sakura's shadow fell over him, and then she threw up his head and arms and screamed. Seconds later, an 'oof' was heard from him, as well as a thumping noise that sounded suspiciously like a punch.

A few minutes later, Sakura could be seen walking haughtily away down the street with a fallen Konohamaru and Naruto behind her. Each sported bumps on their heads that steamed from Sakura's anger. Konohamaru twitched.

"Are you okay, Konohamaru-kun?" asked Udon.

"I-I-itai!" said Naruto as he got up, clutching his head. Konohamaru followed suit.

"Ah! The ugly, wide-forehead girl… Is she really a girl?" asked Konohamaru to Naruto.

Unfortunately for him, Sakura heard him. She stopped walking.

"Huh?" said the four ninja behind her.

Sakura turned around slowly and jerkily like a robot, and the four behind her froze with bulging eyes when they saw the evil and angry smile on her face. She was still for a moment, and then ran toward them with turbo-like speed. In turn, they ran quickly away, trying desperately to outrun her. Konohamaru managed to run faster than the others, but it was short-lived as he suddenly ran into something solid. Crying out in pain, he fell backwards onto his butt.

Konohamaru cracked his eyes open and looked up. There were two strangers standing there, both older than Naruto, and the symbols on their hitai-ite weren't Konoha's. One was a teenage boy dressed all in black with kabuki (Japanese theatre) paint on his face. His eyes were squinted shut into slits. He stood with his hands stuffed in his pockets. Strapped on his back was a wrapped-up object that looked suspiciously like body, judging from the hair sticking out in tufts at the top. On the center of his chest was circle that was outlined in white, and was yellow on his right and red on his left. The black hood on his head had pointed ears on it like a cat's. His hitai-ite was worn on his forehead like Naruto's.

The other person was a teenage girl. Her eyes appeared to be the darkest shade of green closest to black. She had her hands on her hips and was staring down as Konohamaru. Purple nail polish adorned her fingernails. Her hair was a sandy-yellow color and stuck out in four ponytails, two on each side of her head. She wore a black fishnet under-suit that could be seen on her shoulders and coming down a little on her left leg. She also wore a type of short dress with a red obi (sash) tied around her waist. Her hitai-ite was hanging around her neck. On her back was what looked like a giant folded-up fan.

"That hurt," said the boy, who Konohamaru must have run into.

Naruto, Udon, and Moegi stared. Even Sakura had forgotten her anger and stepped closer.

"Huh?" they all said; these people were weird looking.

Suddenly, the boy in black grabbed Konohamaru by the scarf around his neck and held him up level to his face.

"Konohamaru!" shouted Naruto, afraid for his friend.

"That hurt, brat," said the older boy, while Konohamaru had his air cut off.

The Hokage's grandson had his little hands wrapped around the older boy's, trying to pry him off. His eyes were squinted shut from the pain that the scarf was giving him. The boy holding him tightened his grip, and Konohamaru cried out.

"Stop it. We're going to get scolded later," said the blonde girl.

"Gomen nasai (I'm sorry), I was joking around, so…" began Sakura, clasping her hands toward her chest anxiously.

'_Who are these people?_' she thought, worried for Naruto's friend.

Angrily, Naruto said, "Oi! Let go of that hand!"

The boy in black noticed the hitai-ite on Naruto's forehead and spotted the curled Leaf symbol on it. He smirked.

'_Hmph. These guys are Genin of Konoha,_' he thought.

Then he said, "But I want to play around before some noisy people come."

Konohamaru gasped for air and managed to get out, "Let go!" while kicking his attacker.

"You're very energetic, gaki," said the boy holding him, and tightened his grip on the scarf even harder, cutting off even more of Konohamaru's air.

Naruto stood with his hands clenched, anger in his eyes.

"Why you-!" he yelled, taking off towards the boy in black.

Anticipating this, the boy in black opened his eyes and began moving his fingers. Naruto suddenly felt as if he were tripped and fell backwards onto his back.

Gasping for breath, he sat up.

"What was that?" he said in confusion.

"Konoha's Genin are weak," stated the boy in black simply.

'_Are these people from outside this country? Why are they here?_' wondered Sakura.

"Konohamaru…" said Naruto, almost in defeat.

"Konohamaru-chan!" yelled Moegi anxiously.

"Konohamaru-kun!" said Udon as worriedly as he could.

Konohamaru was hauled up even higher, and his cheeks were turning purple. He was gasping for his life.

Naruto jumped up and yelled, like the knuckle-headed ninja he was, "Oi! If you don't let go of him, you're going to get it from me, you baka!"

Afraid for Konohamaru, Sakura came up behind Naruto angrily and grabbed him around the neck, cutting off his ability to speak.

"You're the baka! Don't provoke him!" she whispered angrily.

The boy in black watched this exchange and said, "You piss me off."

He brought a fist up and said, "I hate short people anyway. And you're so impertinent for someone younger than me."

Konohamaru was hauled up a little higher and the boy holding him faced Naruto and Sakura directly, lowering his head a little and his eyes looking up. His gaze was intimidating.

"It makes me want to break you," he said quietly.

Naruto and Sakura gasped in shock, while Moegi and Udon were crying in fear.

The blonde girl sighed and said, "I'm not going to be responsible for what you do."

Sakura stared at the boy holding Konohamaru intently.

'_Who is this boy? He's dangerous…_' she thought.

Looking at the suffocating Konohamaru, the boy in black said, "After this short kid, the short kid over there is next."

He drew back his fist to deliver a blow into Konohamaru's face.

"Stop!" yelled Naruto as he got up and ran towards the assailant.

Suddenly, something flashed by and struck the boy holding Konohamaru in his hand before he could pummel the poor boy. A spurt of blood was seen.

Konohamaru fell to the ground onto his tailbone but was otherwise unharmed.

The older boy held his damaged hand, giving out little sounds of pain. A small stone fell to the ground. One side of the stone had a smear of blood on it.

"Huh?" said the boy in black, and then turned to look up in a nearby tree when he heard the sound of a stone hitting a palm.

Uchiha Sasuke was sitting on one the branches of the tree, tossing a stone up and down.

"What do you think you're doing in another person's village?" he asked.

"Sasuke-kun!" squealed Sakura in admiration, clenched her fists under her chin in excitement.

The boy in black stared up at Sasuke. Naruto looked up at Sasuke in disbelief and anger. The blonde girl was blushing and smiling up at the Uchiha.

'_He's pretty handsome_,' she thought.

"Nii-chan!" cried Konohamaru as he ran over to Naruto's side.

Narrowing his eyes and still holding his injured hand, the boy in black said, "Another gaki that pisses me off!"

"Get lost," said Sasuke, and crumpled the stone he was holding into dust.

"He's so cool!" squealed Sakura, who still held the same pose.

Moegi was doing the same, and they both had hearts in their eyes. Even Udon looked awestruck.

But Naruto and Konohamaru looked pretty down in the dumps. Naruto was pushing the ends of his two forefingers together nervously and making little anxious sounds. Konohamaru looked exasperated.

Konohamaru turned toward Naruto, pointing and crying, and said, "Naruto-nii-chan, you're not cool!"

Trying to keep favor in the Honorable Grandson's eyes, he knelt down and held the side of one Konohamaru's arms.

"I would have beaten that guy…" began Naruto nervously.

"Liar!" said Konohamaru, turning his face away.

Naruto clenched his fists in front of his face, gritting his teeth and his eyes white half-circles leaning in an angle.

'_Sasuke! Why do you always stick your nose into everything like this!_' he thought.

Meanwhile, the boy in black was talking to Sasuke.

"Oi, come down, gaki," he called.

The two proceeded to having a staring contest.

"I hate gaki like you, who think they're so clever," said the older boy, and reached for the strap over his left shoulder that secured the 'body' on his back.

He pulled it off, and the blonde girl said worriedly, "Oi! You're going to use Karasu (Crow)?"

The boy placed the 'body' object on the ground, the strap that had secured it to his shoulder fluttering in the wind.

"Kankurou, yameru (stop)," said a cold voice.

-o-o-o-

Kagome was grinning happily as she walked the deserted street, her hands behind her head. (17) She had finally lost those twits who had wanted to make her life hell by asking her out. Who was stupid enough to ask someone out on a date when you didn't even know their name or what they were like?

She hummed a tuneless song. It was such a nice day! And this street was pretty nice, too! It was line with wooden boards, and paved with evenly spaced stones that were a dull yellow-brown. Back home in Tsukigakure, all the roads were made of dirt.

An awfully familiar sound reached Kagome's ears, and she froze. It was yipping and howling, a sound that she had come to dread at a certain time of month.

Turning slowly, eyes wide, she glanced behind her. She jumped back in shock.

"AH!"

There were so many of them! She had never seen so many dogs in one place! There was a whole herd of dogs coming down the street, racing towards her.

Kagome turned and started running.

'_Kuso! This is one of the reasons I don't like having you in me, Kawarubi!_' she yelled at the youkai.

Kawarubi, as usual, was silent, but Kagome detected a hint of amusement coming from the Bijuu.

-o-o-o-

Sasuke gave a small gasp of shock. There was someone on the other side of the tree trunk from him, and he hadn't even noticed!

"Huh?" said Naruto, Sakura, and the Konohamaru Corps, peering forward for a closer look.

There was a boy about Team Seven's age hanging upside down from a branch on the opposite side of Sasuke. He had a pale complexion, and apple-red hair. His eyes were teal green and had no pupils. They were outlined thickly in black. Was it makeup? Or was it natural?

He wore a black suit that was tied securely with bandages around his ankles and had fishnet extensions on the short sleeves. From the backside it looked like he was wearing some sort of kilt instead of pants.

Over his right shoulder was a white sash that went across his chest to his left side and hung down his back. On his right shoulder was a large leather strap that went across his chest in a mirror image of the white sash and secured a large decorated gourd to his back. The same symbol that was on the other two's hitai-ite was on the silver buckle of the leather strap.

On the left side of his forehead there was the kanji 'Ai (Love)' actually _engraved_ into his skull and was red in color. His arms were folded across his chest.

"You're a disgrace to our village," said the red-haired boy coldly.

Naruto, Sakura, the blonde girl, and the boy now known as Kankurou all gasped.

"G-gaara…" said Kankurou nervously.

Sasuke, however, was pondering over this new arrival. He stared at 'Gaara' and his unique appearance.

'_When did this guy appear next to me? He was as quiet as Kakashi,_' he thought.

Gaara's teal eyes moved Sasuke's direction.

"You're a disgrace to our village," Gaara repeated, "Why do you think we came all the way here to Konoha?"

"Listen, Gaara, these guys started it," said Kankurou nervously, trying to get on the redhead's good side.

"Shut up," said Gaara.

Kankurou flinched and looked like he was about to wet himself.

Gaara narrowed his eyes and said, "I'll kill you."

"I was at fault," said Kankurou, putting up his hands at chest-level in an 'I

surrender, please don't kill me' type of way.

The blonde girl changed her stance into a worried one, her fists clenched at her chest and her knees pointing toward each other.

"Gomen na (I'm sorry). I'm really sorry," continued Kankurou, sounding like he was trying to soothe a child throwing a tantrum.

Gaara turned his head to look at Sasuke and said, "Excuse them, you guys."

'_He has unpleasant eyes,_' thought Sasuke.

'_He hit Kankurou-nii's (nii = short for nii-chan) hand with a rock so easily. He's good,_' thought Gaara.

For a split second, Gaara and Sasuke continued to stare at each other, and then Gaara disappeared in a cloud of swirling sand. Sasuke stood up on his tree branch in surprise. The cloud of sand drifted to the ground in front of Kankurou and the blonde girl. The sand turned into a crouching Gaara, who stood up.

"Ikuzou (let's go). We didn't come here to fool around," he said.

"I know," said Kankurou, and the trio began to move away.

Suddenly, Sakura ran forward and said, "Chotto matte (wait a minute)!"

The trio stopped, but didn't turn around.

"Nan da (what is it)?" asked the blonde girl.

"Judging from your hitai-ite, you are ninja from Sunagakure (Hidden Among the Sand), right?" asked Sakura.

The trio of nin said nothing.

"Hi no Kuni and Kaze no Kuni (Country of Wind) have an alliance, but a treaty prevents ninja from entering each other's countries without permission. State your purpose," continued Sakura, stepping forward with authority.

Sakura began saying, "According to your reasons, I will…"

The trio turned around, and the blonde nin sighed in irritation and quoted, "'What you're looking for is closer than you think.' You don't know anything?"

The blonde held up a fancy slip of paper with her picture and writing on it, saying, "This is a traffic pass."

Sasuke grunted in surprise.

"As you guessed, we're Genin from Sunagakure of Kaze no Kuni. We came to this village to take the Chuunin Selection Exam," the blonde nin explained, lowering her pass.

"Chuunin Selection Exam? What's a Chuunin Selection Exam?" asked Naruto, sweatdropping.

"You all really must not know," said the blonde Sunagakure nin smugly.

"Nii-chan, you can advance from a Genin to a Chuunin if you pass the exam," spoke up Konohamaru.

"Sou ka (really)? Then I should take it, too!" said Naruto excitedly, eager for a new challenge. (18)

Gaara turned around and began walking again, and his teammates followed suit. Sasuke jumped down from the tree and called out to him.

"Oi, you there. What's your name?" he called.

"Me?" asked the blonde girl, turning around and blushing. (19)

"No, the one next to you with the gourd," said Sasuke, pointing at Gaara.

Kankurou and the blonde girl turned to look at Gaara, who turned around.

"Sabaku no Gaara (Gaara of the Sand Waterfall). I am also interested in you. What's your name?" asked Gaara.

Smirking, Sasuke replied, "Uchiha Sasuke."

A breeze blew down the street, ruffling Gaara's red hair and Sasuke's onyx tresses. Each of them seemed to be trying to stare the other down.

Naruto, who was about to ask Gaara if he wanted to know _his_ name, glanced behind him.

"Hm? What's that noise?" he said.

"Be quiet, Naruto," said Sakura, who was totally enthralled with the testosterone that Sasuke was giving off.

"Iie, I hear it, too," said Konohamaru, and his two companions nodded.

Soon, the sound of barking and howling could be heard coming closer and closer. Gaara broke his stare with Sasuke to see what was coming down the street that intersected with the one they were on. Soon, everyone was staring at the street that connected theirs, back where Naruto had been looking.

The sound of sandals could be heard now, and it seemed there was only one pair. Suddenly, a nin girl ran into view, and she started coming down the street, until she saw that it was occupied, that is.

"Kuso!" cursed the new arrival, and she turned back where she had entered.

But she didn't start to run again. Instead, she began using hand seals.

-o-o-o-

Kagome formed a 'Tora (tiger)' seal with her left hand and an 'Ushi (ox)' seal with her right.

Then she adjusted the 'Ushi' seal above the 'Tora' and said, "Doton: Doryuuheki (Earth Release: Earth Style Wall)!"

She opened her mouth and mud began to spit out of it at a fast pace. Soon the entrance to the street was blocked with a wall of earth, and Kagome quit using the jutsu. She sighed in relief and panted. All that running was tiring.

Wiping her mouth of mud, Kagome thought, '_Yuck. That jutsu's messy_.'

The sound of howling and whining was soon heard on the other side of the mud wall, and Kagome's back stiffened.

"Urusai na (shut the hell up)! Leave me alone, you crazy dogs!" she shouted, shaking her fist at the wall.

Then Kagome remembered that there had been people when she had run down this street. That was why she had used the jutsu, after all, so that they wouldn't be run over by the dogs. She could feel them staring holes in her back.

Turning slowly, she faced them. There were nine of them, three of them children, four around her age, and two older teens. Laughing nervously, Kagome smiled and rubbed the back of her neck.

"Ehhh… Sumimasen, if I interrupted anything," she said, and then bowed just in case.

She looked up and saw that they were still staring at her. The blonde, spiky-headed boy was staring with his mouth open, as was the bubblegum-haired girl with green eyes next to him. The blonde's aura felt strange, and it nagged at her. The black-haired boy looked pretty indifferent and uninterested.

'_Hmph, what a jerk,_' Kagome found herself thinking.

Her eyes swept to the three youngsters. They were somewhat unremarkable looking, though the little girl was adorable. She glanced at the last three. Two were older than her. One was a boy wearing what appeared to be kabuki paint and a hood with pointed ears, and the other was a dark-blonde girl with a large fan strapped to her back.

'_She must be a Fuuton (Wind Release) user, since those moves usually require something to channel through,_' thought Kagome.

Then her eyes landed on the boy with hair as red as an apple's skin. His teal-colored eyes that were outlined in black looked coldly at her, and she froze.

'_His aura is…demonic! Is he like me?_' Kagome asked herself, and then glanced at the blonde-haired boy again.

She examined his aura, as well. Though it was hidden more carefully than the red-haired boy's, he too had a demonic aura.

'_They're Jinchuuriki…like me? If they're Jinchuuriki, then they must be…_'

Kagome's eyes were drawn to the hitai-ite the six older people were wearing.

Three wore Konoha hitai-ite, and the other three she recognized to be wearing the hitai-ite of Suna no Kuni. She mentally kicked herself. She had just shown one of her Ninjutsu (ninja technique) to these ninja, who were probably entering the Chuunin exam just like her. Oh, well. She had plenty of tricks up her sleeve.

Realizing that nobody was going to say anything, she checked to see if the dogs were still outside the earthen wall with her senses. Surprisingly, they had left. All except one. She could take on one.

Releasing her chakra from the earth wall, she bowed and said in a monotone voice, "Gomen nasai, for wasting your time."

The wall crumbled away into a fine dust as she turned to face it. The wind blew it away, and once the dust cleared, a mastiff could be seen panting.

"Get lost," said Kagome in her so-called 'Sesshoumaru voice', and threw a kunai between its two front feet after attaching a chakra string to it.

Showing another trick she had taught herself couldn't really hurt. After all, it was a simple one.

The dog yelped in fear and took off with its tail between its legs. Kagome tugged on the chakra string and the kunai came flying back to her. She caught it and placed it back in its pouch.

Glancing down both ways of the intersecting street, she stuffed her hands in her pockets and began trudging back the way she had come.

What she heard next surprised her.

"Oi! Chotto matte (wait)!"

-o-o-o-

"Naruto!" said Sakura, as the blonde nin took off after the strange girl, followed soon after by the three younger kids.

Naruto paid the pink-haired kunoichi no mind, which was a surprise, and disappeared around the corner.

The sound of footsteps was heard, and Sasuke and Sakura turned to see that Gaara and his two teammates were leaving. The Sunagakure nin jumped into the air and disappeared.

'_Who was that girl? I didn't recognize the symbol on her hitai-ite. And that guy, Sabaku no Gaara…things are getting interesting,_' thought Sasuke, smirking.

He sighed and stuffed his hands in his pockets, and began walking away. And for once, Sakura left him alone.

-o-o-o-

Higher up in the same tree that Sasuke and Gaara had appeared in, a trio of ninja had watched what had occurred. Two of them were male, and the last was a female. One male sat on the branch; the other had a hand placed against the trunk of the tree to steady himself. The female appeared to have good balance, because she stood with one hand on her hip and nothing else to support her. All of them wore hitai-ite with an emblem that resembled a musical note.

"What do you think?" asked the boy with his hand on the tree.

"I don't think they're much," began the guy sitting down.

His face was wrapped in bandages except for a small space revealing his left eye. On his back was what appeared to be a big furry pelt of some kind.

"…but we need to keep an eye on the black-haired guy from Konoha and the guy with the gourd from that Suna (Sand) village."

_**Owari (End)**_

-o-o-o-

**Omake: What Happened After the End of the Chapter**

"…but we need to keep an eye on the black-haired guy from Konoha and the guy with the gourd from that Suna village."

Suddenly, the male that was using the tree trunk to steady himself slipped, his hand skidding on the bark. He fell backwards out of the tree and out of sight. His teammates watched and winced when he landed on his back on the ground.

"Oi! You dead?" asked the male with the wrapped-up face.

His teammate on the ground gasped for air like a fish out of water, and his other teammate sighed.

"I think I broke something," said the boy who had fallen, after getting his breath back.

-o-o-o-

**Vocabulary That Was Too Long to Put in the Story ^.^;**

Torii – a traditional Japanese gate usually found at the entry of a Shinto shrine (if you still don't know what it is, just look it up on the Internet)

Icha Icha – 'Come Come' or 'Flirting' - - - This one suits it better -_-;

Hokage – 'fire shadow', leader of Konohagakure

Hakama – traditional Japanese pants that are tied at the waist and fall to the ankles

Gaki – 'kid(s)', 'brat(s)'

Kazaana – Wind Tunnel

Kekkei genkai – bloodline limit

Kun – suffix used for males you are familiar with or someone who is your junior, no matter the sex

**Author's Notes I Couldn't Bear To Get Rid Of**

(1) He's not crying! You know when you yawn, you get sometimes tears in your eyes?

(2) I think that's what that bag is, could be wrong

(3) The keychain looks like Pakkun! Aww!

(4) Not really, guys -_-;

(5) If you have read _Kakashi Gaiden_, it reveals that Kakashi has a superior nose to normal ninja, because he _smells_ an enemy ninja hiding. Maybe his family was like Kiba's? He does use ninken, after all

(6) The hairstyle I'm thinking of is similar to Saya's in the second half of Blood+ when she starts wearing that purple dress

(7) They're like those orange things Rock Lee wears on his ankles to hide his weights

(8) ***says sarcastically*** Who would have guessed?

(9) Pine's heavy! But it is also pretty, and it was the only wood I could think of offhand that grew in Japan. Anyway, you'll learn what's in the box later

(10) InuYasha and his family don't have youkai blood in this story. Instead, they are like Kiba's clan, minus the ninken partners

(11) Sashinuki hakama are hakama that balloon outwards and leave the feet bare. Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha wear these in the anime

(12) Like Inu no Taishou's hair

(13) Magatama beads are those tan beads on Inuyasha's rosary that most people mistake as claws, and are often said to contain great levels of spiritual power. Magatama are usually called tomoe, and that is what those comma-shapes in the Sharingan are called

(14) In this story, Miroku's Kazaana (Wind Tunnel) is a kekkei genkai (bloodline limit), so the rosary beads don't really serve any purpose

(15) -_-;

(16) ^.^

(17) Remind you of someone?

(18) You'd think Naruto would be at least a little embarrassed if a little kid had told him something he didn't know -_-;

(19) In your dreams, girly

-o-o-o-

0o0 Holy s#1+! That's a lot of author's notes!

Whew! That took around four days to finish! And it's so long! In case you're wondering why my version doesn't sound like the English anime, is because I was watching the Japanese anime as I typed this. The English dubs don't really go along with what the original Japanese says, and that pisses me off. Besides, I like the sound of the Japanese voices! ^.^ Anyway, puhleez R & R!

Ja ne!


	3. Chapter II: Rivals

I decided to be nice and upload another chapter in the same day. But I need the ones I haven't uploaded on hand so that I can continue to give out chapters on a regular basis. For the summer, at least… But I'll try and write during the school year, as well, when I have time!

Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto or InuYasha yadda yadda yadda

**Ages (of people not seen previously):**

Umino Iruka – 23

Rock Lee – 13

Hagane Kotetsu – 24

Kamizuki Izumo – 24

Maito Gai – 26

"talking"

'_thinking_'

'**Bijuu talking to host**'

'_**telepathy**_'

**Chapter Two: Rivals**

-o-o-o-

WE ARE FIGHTING DREAMERS takami wo mezashite  
FIGHTING DREAMERS narifuri kamawazu  
FIGHTING DREAMERS shinjiru ga mama ni  
OLI OLI OLI OH-! JUST GO MY WAY!

We are fighting dreamers, aiming high  
Fighting dreamers, not caring about appearances  
Fighting dreamers, because we believe  
Oli oli oli oh-! Just go my way!

~'GO!' (Naruto Opening Song 4)  
FLOW

-o-o-o-

"Oi (hey)! Chotto matte (wait a minute)!"

Kagome paused and turned to see the blonde Jinchuuriki run around the corner, followed by the three younger kids.

"Un (yeah)?" said Kagome.

"Oi! Oi! What's your name?" asked the blonde, stopping beside her.

"I'll give you mine, if all four of you give me yours as well," said Kagome, smiling a little.

"Oh! I'm Uzumaki Naruto, and I'm going to be the next Hokage! Dattebayo!" said the blonde boy, and Kagome laughed.

He froze and said, "Are you making fun of me!"

"Iie (no), iie," said Kagome, waving her hands in front of her, "I was thinking that with that determination and enthusiasm, you'll definitely reach your dream!"

And it was true. She did think that.

Kagome looked pointedly at the remaining three, who seemed surprised that she was even asking for their names.

"I'm Sarutobi Konohamaru!" said one boy, whose hair was being pushed up by the goggles he wore on his forehead.

"I'm Moegi!" said the adorable little girl, who had rosy cheeks, pale skin, and auburn hair that stood up in two ponytails.

"I'm Udon," said the last boy, who had glasses and a never-ending stream of snot coming out of his nose.

Kagome smiled and said, "It's nice to meet you all! I'm Higurashi Kagome!"

"You have such a pretty name, Kagome-san!" said Moegi, smiling cutely.

"Onegai (please), just call me Kagome-chan. I don't like any of those fancy honorifics," said Kagome, rubbing the back of her neck in embarrassment.

"Are you here for the Chuunin exam? What country are you from? Where are your teammates? Are you strong? Do you-" asked Naruto in a rush, before Kagome stopped him.

"Ehh! One question at a time, onegai! Here, will you four walk with me?" asked Kagome.

Naruto began walking beside Kagome, but she made sure that the younger kids were not behind them, but between them, so that they did not feel left out.

"Judging from your last name, are you related to the Hokage, Konohamaru-kun?" asked Kagome.

The boy looked surprised for a minute, and then nodded.

"He's my jii-san (grandfather)! One day, I'll be the Hokage after nii-chan here!" said Konohamaru, jerking his thumb towards Naruto.

'_These kids must be Naruto's admirers and friends,_' thought Kagome.

"Oi, Kagome-chan! Are you here for the Chuunin exam?" asked Naruto, who was walking with his hands behind his head.

"Yep! I came here with my teammates from Tsuki no Kuni (Country of the Moon), which is far to the west from Hi no Kuni (Country of Fire). Why our Tsukikage had us come to the Chuunin exam here is a little strange, though," said Kagome.

That had been one of the questions plaguing Kagome ever since she had been chosen to go to the Chuunin exam. Why to Hi no Kuni, such a far-off country? Maybe the Tsukikage wanted her and her teammates to see the most powerful shinobi nation out of the Five Great Shinobi Nations?

"Where are your teammates, nee-chan (big sister)?" asked Konohamaru.

_Nee-chan?_ Kagome blinked in surprise. Konohamaru called Naruto 'nii-chan', probably out of his fondness for the older boy. Did this mean that the younger children now looked up to her, and so soon?

"They, er, ditched me," said Kagome in an embarrassed way.

"They _ditched_ you?" asked Naruto disbelievingly.

"Un…my teammates are both older than me. InuYasha is fifteen and he went off to find a ramen shop. He and I don't get along very well. And Miroku is sixteen, and he likes to flirt with women. InuYasha thinks I'm a gaki, so he's mean to me a lot, and Miroku just annoys me because he's a playboy," said Kagome.

"I know a great ramen shop! It's called Ichiraku's and it has the best ramen ever! Do you like ramen, Kagome?" asked Naruto.

"Hai! I also like to eat oden!" said Kagome.

"Kagome-chan, will you play Ninja with us?" asked Moegi.

"Play Ninja? You guys are ninja-in-training, aren't you? Sure, I'll-" began Kagome, when the silver ring on her left hand began to grow warm.

"Oh?" she said, and lifted her hand up to peer at it.

The blue stone was pulsing with light softly, her sensei's chakra calling to her.

"Wari (informal 'sorry'), guys. I have to go. My sensei wants me to return," said Kagome, holding up the hand with the ring on it.

"But you'll play Ninja with us sometime, won't you?" asked Konohamaru.

"Sure I will! I'll catch you later, Naruto, Konohamaru, Moegi, Udon!" said Kagome, taking off at a run and waving.

"Ja ne (see you later), Kagome-chan!" Naruto yelled after her, waving.

"Ja ne!" was Kagome's answer before she disappeared from sight.

Naruto lowered his hand and sighed.

"She was pretty kawaii (cute), kore?" asked Konohamaru slyly at his rival. (1)

Naruto blushed and said, "Nani (what)! I wasn't thinking that!"

He had been thinking that; Kagome was certainly cuter than Sakura-chan. But she wasn't his type. He was still determined to pursue Sakura-chan.

"Ano ne (well), let's go. I guess I do have time to play Ninja with you," said Naruto, turning to his three younger friends.

"YAY!" shouted Konohamaru and Moegi.

-o-o-o-

The chakra trail Kagome's ring was giving her led her to the guest quarters in the city, where participants in the Chuunin exam were allowed to stay. Sensing her teammates' and sensei's auras, she hopped through a window and landed on the floor.

"There you are, gaki. Took you long enough," said InuYasha, standing with his arms folded and eyes closed.

A tick mark appeared on Kagome's forehead. The yarou (asshole)!

"Be silent, Inuyasha," said their sensei.

Sesshoumaru Taishou was the older half-brother of InuYasha by four years. Unlike his younger brother, he was regal and disciplined, as well as gorgeous. His eyes were golden like his brother's, but they were chilled and masked. On his face, wrists, and ankles were the markings of the Taishou clan, as well as the clan from whom his deceased mother had come from. Two maroon stripes adorned each cheek, and his upper eyelids were magenta-colored. An indigo crescent moon that faced his left lay in the center of his forehead. His wrists (2) each had maroon stripes going around them. His ankles were the same, even though they weren't visible.

His long silver hair was silkier and softer than InuYasha's, but like InuYasha's he had it tied back in a samurai-style ponytail that went down to his waist. Like InuYasha he wore sashinuki hakama, but his were white. For a top he wore the traditional Jounin vest, and under that wore a white keiko-gi that was tucked into his sashinuki hakama, adorned with red honeycomb shapes. On the back of the Jounin vest was a silver moon. Underneath the keiko-gi was a long-sleeved fishnet shirt that could be seen going down the remaining length of his arms that wasn't covered by the keiko-gi (3).

Tied around his waist was a bright yellow and purple obi that was quite long and hung a foot above his ankles. His ninja sandals were white and specially made for him. The white hitai-ite he owned was tied to one of his upper arms. He wore a silver ring with a white stone on his left hand.

You would think that Sesshoumaru would not be a very good ninja, what with all the white he wore. The truth was that he was a master at the 'silent killing technique'. He was very fast, and in the West he had earned the nickname 'Shirokage ('white shadow')', which was ironic because his father was the Tsukikage. One of the reasons Kagome had been assigned to him was because of his speed. Kagome was very fast, even faster than her sensei.

"Why did you call me?" asked Kagome, folding her arms.

"It was time for you to come in. It is afternoon, and more and more Genin are coming in for the Chuunin exam. It would be best if you stayed inside," said Sesshoumaru.

"Ehhh! I wanted to play Ninja with Naruto-kun and the others," grumbled Kagome.

"We didn't come here to make friends, gaki! Don't go about fraternizing with the enemy!" said Inuyasha, opening his golden eyes angrily.

"Like you should be telling me what to do! After being hounded by boys who wanted me to be their girlfriend and nearly being molested by the biggest group of inu (dog(s)) I've seen yet, making friends was the highlight of my day!" said Kagome, shaking her fist at him.

"Inu?" said Sesshoumaru, turning towards her and sniffing.

Her scent invaded his nose and he shook his head. Because of the inuyoukai sealed within her, Kagome would have a week of being in heat like a normal inu bitch when it was her most fertile time of month as a human. Then it would pass, and two weeks later she would have her menstrual cycle. (4) Therefore, male dogs would chase after her, because to them she smelled like a bitch in heat. Sometimes even ninja with advanced senses, like Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha, were tempted, but then remembered she was just a young girl.

"All the more reason for you to stay indoors. If you do go out, go out with InuYasha or Miroku."

"Where is Miroku anyway?" asked Kagome, looking around; she didn't see the purple shinobi anywhere.

InuYasha jerked his thumb to an adjoining room and said, "He's unconscious. I had to go and fetch him because some girl had hit him so hard that he was knocked out."

"Baka (idiot). What a hentai (pervert)," said Kagome, sighing.

She turned her gaze to Sesshoumaru and said, "Sensei, when does the Chuunin exam start?"

"A week from today," he said.

"Gaki, did you see anyone that looked strong? You tend to attract them," said Inuyasha.

Kagome bristled at 'gaki'. Couldn't he call her by her actual name for once? She decided to tell him anyway, or else he would pester her like a little kid.

"I didn't get their names, but there was a red-haired Sunagakure (Hidden Among the Sand) boy with a gourd on his back. His aura felt pretty strong, but it's that of a killer's. There was also a boy with black hair that stuck up even more than mine; he seemed pretty strong. The redhead's companions seemed strong enough. And Naruto is strong too…" Kagome drifted off.

"Keh, who's this Naruto? Your new boyfriend?" scoffed InuYasha, only to receive a cold stare from Kagome.

"Naruto's nice. Him and that redhead are like me," said Kagome coldly, and went into the adjoining room.

There were thumping sounds that sounded suspiciously like kicks and the sound of Kagome shouting at Miroku to get up.

"Like her? She doesn't mean…" began InuYasha.

Sesshoumaru nodded and said, "Jinchuuriki."

-o-o-o-

_~The Next Day~_

Naruto was excited. Kakashi-sensei had just given him an application form for the Chuunin exam, as well as Sasuke and Sakura. The three of them were currently walking up the path from the bridge where they normally waited for Kakashi.

"The Chuunin exam, ka? There must be a lot of strong guys," said Naruto.

'_Like that guy,_' thought Naruto, thinking of Kankurou.

'_And this guy_," thought Naruto, glancing over at Sasuke with an angry face.

Sasuke noticed and gave him a dirty look back. Naruto, however, was off in La-La-Land.

_***Naruto's Daydream***_

_A defeated Kankurou and Sasuke fell on top of each other in a pile, and Naruto stood on top of them._

"_Yoroshii (yeah, alright)! I'm not going to lose to anyone!" he said._

_He held up a golden trophy with the Konohagakure emblem engraved on it and stood on a platform that said '1', while Sasuke sat hunched over on the '2' and Kankurou on the '3'. The crowd in the stadium he was in cheered, and confetti floated in the air._

"_If I win this, I'll become the Hokage in no time!" said Naruto._

_The next scene showed the Sandaime sitting cross-legged on the ground, smoking his pipe. His customary Hokage cap was nowhere to be seen._

"_After thinking it over, the Hokage title belongs to Naruto. This old man will just retire," said the Hokage._

_Naruto was shown wearing the Hokage kasa (traditional bamboo hat) and doing a 'victory' sign with his hand._

"_Yeah!" said Naruto._

_***End Daydream* **_

Naruto had dropped back behind the others and was currently giggling to himself. Sasuke, too, was thinking about the Chuunin exam.

'_I might be able to fight with him,_' he thought, an image of Gaara forming in his mind.

He blinked and smiled slightly, actually looking forward to something for once.

Sakura was not so excited.

She stopped and thought, looking down, '_I don't want to… I can't even keep up with Sasuke-kun, or even Naruto. I can't take the Chuunin exam…_'

-o-o-o-

Kagome had managed to sneak away from her sensei and teammates, and was currently playing Ninja with Konohamaru and his two playmates. They were near the bridge where Naruto went everyday to meet his sensei and teammates. The path to it had many torii. The sound of footsteps made her stop and look up, only to see Naruto approach from across the bridge.

"Ohayou (good morning), Naruto-kun!" said Kagome happily; it was nice to see him again.

"Naruto-nii-chan! Let's play together!" said Konohamaru excitedly.

"Sure, I don't have any missions today, so I'll play with you," said Naruto.

"Yeah!" said all three children excitedly, while Kagome giggled.

Suddenly, there was poof of smoke from behind Moegi.

"Huh?" said Kagome and Naruto.

A large cloaked man wearing the hitai-ite of Amegakure (Hidden Among the Rain) appeared behind Moegi and grabbed her. Kagome, Naruto, and the other two gasped in surprise and horror. The man landed on the torii above them.

"Leader! Kagome-chan! Konohamaru-chan!" shouted Moegi.

"What are you trying to do to Moegi!" shouted Konohamaru, raising his fist at the man.

"Oi, let go of Moegi!" shouted Naruto as he ran closer.

The man narrowed his pale white eyes without irises or pupils and smirked to himself. Then he turned and began jumping from torii to torii away from the people below him.

"Kuso (damn), we're going after them, Konohamaru, Kagome-chan," said Naruto, and jumped up onto the torii the man had.

"Okay!" said Konohamaru, and followed suit.

"Matte!" said Udon as he did the same.

Kagome said nothing, but followed after Udon. The flower that Moegi had been holding before she had been captured lay on the ground, forgotten.

Kagome suspected the man had no real intention in hurting Moegi, or anyone else, for that matter. It was as if he were testing them – Kagome's eyes widened in shock.

'_This man must be one of Konoha's ninja in disguise! He's testing Naruto to see if he is ready for the Chuunin exam!_' she thought.

Kagome had been tested before she had left Tsukigakure for this Chuunin exam. She had passed, of course, and the test had been really easy. For her. Other people had not been so lucky.

The pursuit of the man led into a nearby forest. The chase was fast and thrilling to Kagome, because of all the tree branches.

"Oh? They can keep up with me at this speed?" said the man to himself.

"Hang on tight, Moegi!" called Naruto, dodging tree branches and tree trunks alike, with Kagome behind him a few paces.

Konohamaru and Udon were left behind.

"Where did nii-chan and nee-chan go?" said Konohamaru, looking around.

Udon landed on his branch and said, "Maybe we go lost."

Meanwhile, the man who had kidnapped Moegi was tying her to a tree and placing a gag over her mouth.

"Let go!" said Moegi, trying to get loose.

The man laughed and said, "If I sneak in during the Chuunin exam, the impregnable Konohagakure no Sato (Village Hidden Among the Leaves) can easily be infiltrated."

The sound of Naruto and Kagome landing came behind him, and he grunted in surprise.

He turned, saying, "That was quick."

Kagome had landed a little further away from the man, and watched with her arms folded. Naruto had landed a couple of yards away from the man.

"Hey! You fat old man! What are you trying to do with Moegi!" said Naruto as he pointed, and Kagome had to suppress a chuckle.

"What am I going to do?" said the man, and placed a kunai (throwing knife) near Moegi's throat.

"Do you want to know?" he continued.

Naruto gasped and moved forward, afraid for the young girl's life.

"Don't move! If you move, this gaki is dead!"

"Why are you doing this?" asked Naruto.

"I'm looking for the Shodai's (First's, as in the First Hokage) Fuuin no Sho (Scroll of Seals)! If you bring it here, I'll let the gaki go," explained the man.

"Fuuin no Sho?" asked Naruto.

Moegi began trying to say something through her gag, but it was no use.

"What are you doing? Bring the Fuuin no Sho!" said the man impatiently.

"What if I say 'iie'?" asked Naruto.

"You don't care what happens to this gaki?" asked the man, seeming to be surprised.

Naruto laughed and said, "I don't care what happens to that clump of straw!"

Gasping, the man turned and saw that Moegi had been replaced by a doll made of straw.

"Nani! When did he…" began the kidnapper, and then looked up into the tree, only to see one of Naruto's Kage Bunshin (Shadow Clone(s)) with Moegi clutching its leg.

"I've taken back Moegi from you all right!" said the Kage Bunshin Naruto.

"Way to go, Leader, I look up to you now!" said Moegi admiringly.

"Damn it, the Bunshin no Jutsu (Clone Technique), eh?" said the man, clenching his fist up at Moegi and the Kage Bunshin.

"Just accept your defeat like a man!" shouted Naruto, and he threw a net over the kidnapper.

Three other Kage Bunshin ran to get the man, and the original Naruto jumped in to get him as well. Then the Kage Bunshin vanished as Naruto straddled the man's back (5). The Kage Bunshin up in the tree let Moegi down and vanished as well.

"Naruto-nii-chan!" came Konohamaru's voice, and the two other boys came running up.

"Oh! You're late, Konohamaru!" said Naruto.

"Konohamaru-chan! I was scared!" said Moegi, who skipped over to Konohamaru and hugged him.

Konohamaru petted her on the forehead to calm her down, saying, "There, there."

"Leader, did you catch him?" asked Udon.

Getting up off of the culprit, Naruto said, "Yeah, he's right here."

He looked down at the man, only to see that the man had been replaced by a rock.

"Are (huh)?" he said.

"It's the Kawarimi no Jutsu (Replacement Technique)!" shouted Konohamaru.

"Damn it! When did he change places with that rock!" yelled Naruto, visibly agonized that he allowed Moegi's captor to escape.

Suddenly, Kagome laughed and came up to stand beside Naruto.

"Don't worry, Naruto-kun. If he causes anymore trouble, someone else will get him. So, you know the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, eh?" said Kagome, hugging him around the shoulders with one arm.

"Hai! Pretty cool, ne (right)?" said Naruto, grinning all the while.

"Hai, if you don't already know it, that is," said Kagome mysteriously.

"Huh?" said Naruto.

Kagome smiled, shaking her head, and said, "It's nothing. We should be getting back. My teammates are probably frantic about where I am right now, the hypocrites."

"Hai!" said the other four.

From behind a nearby tree, the man that Naruto had almost captured thought, '_Sou ka (I see)… But who is this girl that with the strange hitai-ite?_

-o-o-o-

_~Later That Night~_

The moon shone on the silver hair of Hatake Kakashi as he stood on the roof of a building. A dog barked in the distance. Turning his back, he heard the person he had been waiting for appear. It was the man who had kidnapped Moegi.

"How were they?" asked Kakashi, with his back still turned.

"Although we went through the trouble of setting up a special preliminary exam, all nine rookies passed," said the man, before turning back into Umino Iruka.

"It seems that their skills are growing, just like the three of you have said," said Iruka.

"But the real Chuunin exam isn't going to be that easy," said Kakashi.

"It seems that Naruto has made a new friend. A foreign friend," commented Iruka nonchalantly.

"A friend?" repeated Kakashi, turning to face Iruka.

"Un. A girl with a hitai-ite with two crescent moons on it. She didn't try to help Naruto-kun at all; she just stood there smiling. I think she knew what was going on," said Iruka.

"Two crescent moons? One didn't happen to be inside the missing space of the other, did it?" asked Kakashi.

"Hai, but how did you know…?"

"There was a rumor that a few teams of Genin from Tsuki no Kuni were coming here for the Chuunin exam. I guess it turned out to be true after all," said Kakashi, sighing.

"Tsuki no Kuni?" asked Iruka.

"It's not a well-known nation, and it's a small one, as well. The country is located far to the West. What we do know about it is that the citizens were originally a spiritual people, like houshi (wandering Shinto monk(s)) and miko (Shinto priestess(es)), before they became a shinobi nation. Their training is supposed to be brutal, and they are also known for their members to travel to other countries and bring back orphans and the homeless," explained Kakashi.

"Oh? That's unusual. But that girl…she glanced at my hiding spot before she left with Naruto and that trio that the Hokage's grandson leads. And she smiled," said Iruka, sweatdropping.

"She smiled?" asked Kakashi.

"H-hai," said Iruka nervously, rubbing the back of his neck.

Kakashi stuck his hands in his pockets and turned away.

'_I would like to meet this girl, to see if she means my student any harm_," he thought.

-o-o-o-

_~The Day When The Chuunin Exam Begins~_

Naruto and Sasuke were waiting in front of the Ninja Academy. Another group of ninja was nearby, chattering among themselves. Suddenly, a slouching Sakura approached.

"Sakura-chan! You're late!" said Naruto loudly.

"Gomen…" she said, smiling nervously and waving her hand apologetically.

"Ohayou, Sasuke-kun," she said hesitantly.

"Morning," said Sasuke.

He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, thinking, '_Sakura is acting weird._'

Meanwhile, inside, a boy wearing a green spandex suit (6), a bowl-shaped haircut, orange leg mufflers, and bandages wrapped around his arms was punched in the face and propelled backwards onto the floor.

A girl, most likely his teammate, kneeled down next to him to help him up.

"You're trying to take the Chuunin exam with that kind of level?" said one of the assailants standing in front of the doors, who had spiky hair and bandages on his face.

"Maybe you should quit, kids," said the other, who had his chin covered by a black material.

"You're still just gaki," said the first speaker.

"Onegai, let us though," said the girl that was trying to help the boy in the green suit up.

She had her dark-brown hair tied back into two buns on top of her head, and she wore a pink vest. She stood and approached the two standing and blocking the door, but she too was punched in the face. She fell back to the floor beside her teammate.

"How cruel," said one of the gathered ninja.

"What did you say? Listen up; we're being kind to you. The Chuunin exam is very difficult," said Spiky-Hair.

"We have seen those who gave up on becoming a ninja or become seriously injured taking this exam," said Covered-Chin.

Just then, Team Seven entered through the doors, just as Spiky-Hair was saying, "A Chuunin is the commander of a squad. It's the commander's responsibility for failing any missions and the death of their subordinates. And to think, that these gaki are trying to…"

"What's wrong with sifting out those who aren't going to pass anyway?" said Covered-Chin.

"That's a sound argument. But I will pass," said Sasuke as he approached, Naruto and Sakura flanking behind him.

"And undo this field that you've created using Genjutsu (illusionary technique). I want to go to the third floor," he said, approaching the two alone.

A ninja behind him asked one of his teammates, "What's that guy talking about?"

"I don't know," responded his teammate.

"Oh?" said Spiky-Hair.

"You noticed?" asked Covered-Chin.

"Of course anyone should notice that! It's so obvious!" said a new voice behind them.

Several people turned, including Naruto, to see who had spoken.

"Oh! Kagome-chan!" said Naruto.

_Naruto knew this newcomer?_ Sasuke glanced out of the corner of his eye to see who had come in. Grunting in surprise, he realized it was that girl from earlier in the week, the one who had used the Doton (Earth Release) jutsu to get away from the dogs. She flanked by two older boys, one of whom had an interesting hair and eye color combo.

"Keh, anyone could see this is the second floor," said the mentioned boy.

"You're pretty good. But just being able to detect it isn't enough," said Spiky-Hair to Sasuke, cracking open an eye.

Then he attacked, and both Sasuke and the boy in the spandex suit reacted. The boy in green jumped between them and caught both of their legs that had moved to deal a blow.

'_He's fast. He's different from the person who was just being hit,_' thought Sakura.

Sasuke and Spiky-Hair backed off, and the boy in green sighed in relief.

'_He stopped my kick? What's that chakra in his arms?_' thought Sasuke, staring at the boy's hand that still looked like it was grasping Sasuke's foot.

"Oi, you broke the promise. You're the one who didn't want to gather attention by doing something that stands out," said the boy's teammate, a boy with long dark hair and pale eyes with no pupils, as he stepped up with their other teammate.

"But…" said the boy in green, turning towards Sakura, blushing and clenching his fist in front of him.

"She must be why…" said the girl teammate, shaking her head.

'_The bruise he had is gone. It must've been fake,_' thought Sasuke.

The boy in green, who was obviously older than Team Seven because he was taller, walked past Sasuke and up to Sakura.

"My name is Rock Lee. You're Sakura-san, right?" he asked.

"Eh?" said Sakura, who looked surprised that this boy had approached her.

Doing a thumbs-up and blushing, 'Rock Lee' said, "Let's go out together! I will protect you until I die!"

His white teeth sparkled.

"No way…" said Sakura, looking like she really didn't want to be there.

"What?" said Rock Lee, looking crestfallen.

"You're too 'unique' for my tastes," said Sakura.

Rock Lee slouched in depression, and Naruto snickered, putting his arms behind his head.

"Oi, you there. Identify yourself," said the pupil-less boy, coming up behind Sasuke.

Naruto glanced up and became angry, his eyes blazing with fire and clenching his fist in front of him.

'_Kuso! Again! They only talk to Sasuke!_' he thought.

"You're supposed to identify yourself before you ask. You're a rookie, aren't you?" said Sasuke, his hands in his pockets.

"How old are you?" asked pupil-less boy, standing in the exact same pose.

"I'm not obligated to answer that," said Sasuke arrogantly.

"Nani?" said the other boy, becoming angry.

The girl behind him giggled and thought, staring at Sasuke, '_He's kawaii_.'

Sasuke turned and walked back towards his teammates, only to see Naruto and Rock Lee leaning with one hand against the wall, their heads down in depression.

"I'm too unique…?" said Rock Lee.

"No one cares about me…" said Naruto.

Kagome had come over from where she had been watching with quiet amusement and was trying to cheer them up.

" I care about you, Naruto-kun! And you're not _that_ unique, um, Rock Lee-san, right?" she said, patting both on the shoulders.

"You. Get lost," said Sasuke, not looking at Kagome.

The girl's teammates looked over, and the girl froze. She turned around slowly and put her hands in her pockets.

"What did you say to me, gaki?" she said in a dangerously low voice, her eyes narrowed.

"You heard me," said Sasuke, turning and glaring.

"Keh, saying that to someone who has seniority, that pisses me off," said the girl's companion who wore red.

"Hah! _Seniority?_ She's what, ten or eleven?" said Sakura.

"I'm thirteen," said Kagome, narrowing her eyes even further.

Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura glanced at her in surprise.

'_She's Naruto's height, if not a little bit shorter! She's _thirteen_?_' thought Sasuke.

Sakura, being a bit of a dingbat, had to open her big fat mouth.

"You're kind of short, aren't you?" she said scornfully.

"WHO'RE YOU CALLING A ANT-SIZED SHRIMP?" said Kagome angrily, but her teammate in red had appeared beside her and was holding her by the back of her collar. (7)

"Lemme go! Let me at her!" growled Kagome.

"She didn't call you that. And you _are_ short," grumbled InuYasha.

Once Kagome had calmed down somewhat, InuYasha put her down and walked away. She sighed and turned to Naruto.

"Well, Naruto-kun, we should all get going!" said Kagome, rubbing Naruto's blonde hair fondly.

Naruto grinned and said, "Un!"

Kagome returned to her companions. The one in purple sighed, while the red one snickered.

"Urusai (shut up)," Kagome said simply, and punched him in the arm.

"Sometimes I wonder if you are bipolar, Kagome-sama. Your mood changes so quickly," said the one in purple as they began walking away.

"You're the one who has problems, Miroku," said Kagome.

She paused and said, "Chotto matte."

She walked over to the door where the two shinobi, who had tried to dissuade the gathered nin from entering the Chuunin exams, had disappeared through. They were there, lurking out of sight. She poked her head through and they glanced at her in surprise.

"You know, you should get better disguises. Try not to look like your actual selves, 'cause someone here might recognize you. Ja ne, Examiner-san and Examiner-san," Kagome whispered.

The two's eyes widened in shock. Kagome just smiled and left them.

"What was that about?" grumped InuYasha.

"Nothing," said Kagome sweetly.

Then she turned around and said, "C'mon, Naruto-kun! Let's walk together!"

"Un!" said the blonde, and ran up to her, ignoring Sakura's cry of "Naruto!"

"This is Naruto?" asked InuYasha skeptically.

"Do you have a problem!" shouted Naruto.

"Maybe!" said InuYasha.

"Don't fight! You two can walk with us too, you know," said Kagome, looking back pointedly at Sasuke and Sakura.

"Sasuke! Sakura-chan!" called Naruto, waving them over.

Realizing that Naruto wasn't really going to budge from this strange girl's side, Sasuke walked up in his cool, arrogant way, with Sakura trailing behind. The pink-haired girl looked like she wanted to stay as far away from Kagome as possible, probably thinking she was mentally deranged or something. The group of six began making their way to the third floor.

Back behind the door, Spiky-Hair and Covered-Chin peeked out.

"Those must be the precious kids of Kakashi and Gai. But I guess they pass the application turn-in phase," said Covered-Chin, chuckling.

"Yeah," said Spiky-Hair, and made a one-handed seal.

Covered-Chin did the same, and they both returned to their original forms in a poof of smoke.

"Looks like we can enjoy ourselves with the candidates this year," said Spiky-Hair, whose real name was Hagane Kotetsu.

"Yes, as examiners of this exam," said Covered-Chin, whose name was Kamizuki Izumo.

They glanced at each other and Kotetsu said, "Do you reckon that girl was right? Maybe we should change our faces next year, because we do look like our real selves in gaki form."

They shrugged.

-o-o-o-

Rock Lee and his teammates stared after the retreating Team Seven. The boy with pale eyes stared at the uchiwa (fan) on the back of Sasuke's shirt.

'_Sasuke… Uchiha Sasuke?_' he thought.

Rock Lee turned to look back at his companions.

"Does he interest you?" asked the female member of their group to the boy staring after Sasuke.

The boy said nothing and began to walk forward, making a 'hmph' sound. The girl giggled and followed him. But Lee stayed where he was. Realizing he wasn't following, the girl stopped and turned around.

"Lee, ikuzou (let's go). What are you doing?" she asked.

"You two go ahead. There's something I need to check out," said Lee, and turned and went walking the opposite way.

"What was that about?" said the girl, turning to her other teammate.

"How should I know?" said Pale-Eyes, and continued on his way.

-o-o-o-

Kagome's team and Team Seven were walking up the stairs. Naruto was chatting animatedly to Kagome, InuYasha was speaking with Miroku, Sakura was busy trying to stay away from Kagome, and Sasuke was just being Sasuke, though he did look kind of excited.

'_Yare yare, looks like this Chuunin exam is full of monsters,_' he thought, picturing the pupil-less boy, Rock Lee, and Gaara in his mind.

Soon they were in a part of the academy that led outdoors through some rows of wooden pillars.

"You there with the sharp eyes. Wait," came a familiar voice.

"Huh?" said Naruto and Sakura as everyone turned around to look.

It was Rock Lee. He was standing up on a higher level, looking down at them.

"Kagome-sama, let's go," said Miroku.

"Fine. I'll see you later, Naruto-kun," said Kagome.

"Ja ne, Kagome-chan," said Naruto, waving.

InuYasha snorted and continued on his way, followed by Miroku and Kagome.

Sakura looked absolutely petrified that Rock Lee had showed up.

"What do you want?" asked Sasuke coldly.

"Will you fight me right here, right now?" asked Lee.

"Fight you right here, right now?" repeated Sasuke.

"Hai!" said Lee, and jumped down onto their level.

"My name is Rock Lee," he said, and jerked his thumb toward himself.

Then he pointed at Sasuke, saying, "You're supposed to identify yourself before you ask for someone else's name, right…Uchiha Sasuke-kun?"

Sasuke's eyes widened a little and he said, "So you know my name."

Lee got down into a crouch, his hands forming into claws.

"I would like to fight you. I would like to see how my moves will do against a descendant of the genius ninja clan," he said.

He turned his head toward Sakura, who froze, and said, blushing, "Also…Sakura-san, I love you."

"Iie! I hate those eyelashes!" shouted Sakura, absolutely mortified.

She wrapped her arms around herself and began to shiver.

"Your hairstyle, fuzzy eyebrows, and everything about you is too unique for me!" she said.

"Tenshi da (you're an angel)," said Lee, and winked a heart at her.

"Iie!" shouted Sakura, and dodged it.

The heart went past her and plastered itself to the column behind her.

"Very nice. How about this?" said Lee, and began winking a multitude of hearts at Sakura.

Sakura began running around in circles and tears spouted from her eyes like a fountain. She deftly dodged the hearts, but ended up leaning over backwards. She fell back and landed on her head.

After the last hearts had stopped coming, she got up, gasping and wide-eyed, with a large goose egg where she had hit her head.

'_That was really close,_' she thought with relief.

Sakura ran closer to Lee, and shook her fist at him, yelling, "Stop throwing weird things at me! I had to dodge those like my life depended on it!"

Lee slouched in depression.

"You don't need to avoid them that much," he said.

Naruto, meanwhile, was getting very ticked off.

'_It's all about Sasuke again! Kuso! Kuso!' _he thought, gritting his teeth and clenching a fist in front of his face.

"So you're challenging me knowing my name is Uchiha? I'm sorry to say this, but you're ignorant. Do you want to see what this name of Uchiha is capable of, fuzzy eyebrows?" said Sasuke, looking somewhat pissed off.

"Please," said Lee, while he was thinking, '_I'm lucky. I get to fight the number one rookie this early. And I will prove something to you, Gai-sensei_."

"Matte!" yelled Naruto.

Sakura and Sasuke glanced over at Naruto, surprised.

"I'll fight the fuzzy eyebrows guy," grumbled Naruto, a tick mark on the side of his face.

"Hey, don't butt in…" began Sakura.

"Don't worry, it'll only take five minutes," said Naruto.

"I don't want to fight you. I want to fight an Uchiha," said Lee.

"Geez, everyone is annoying me with this 'Sasuke Sasuke' thing!" shouted Naruto, charging at Lee with his fist drawn.

Lee merely tapped the top of Naruto's fist with his hand that had of its fingers locked together to knock him down.

"Kuso!" said Naruto, and tried to kick Lee in the face.

Lee merely dodged the kick and kicked Naruto's legs and arms out from under him, saying, "Konoha Senpuu (Leaf Whirlwind)!"

Naruto spun like a turtle trapped on its back and hit the wall behind Lee spread-eagled. He slumped to the floor. He wasn't badly hurt in any way, just unconscious; Lee hadn't been taking him seriously.

'_He's strong,_' thought Sakura, her green eyes wide.

Lee regained his straight posture, holding his right hand in front of his chest.

"I will declare this now. You cannot defeat me. Because I am the strongest of the Konoha Genin right now," said Lee.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes and thought back to when Lee had come between him and that bully standing at the door. Then he smirked.

"Interesting. I'll accept it," he replied, getting into a fighting stance.

Sakura glanced at the clock and said, "Don't, Sasuke-kun. We have less than thirty minutes to turn in our applications."

"Don't worry, it'll only take five minutes," said Sasuke, and then he charged at Lee.

'_He's coming! Gomen nasai, Gai-sensei. I may have to break a promise. I may have to use that move!_' thought Lee as Sasuke came closer and closer.

Sasuke aimed for Lee's face, and almost had him until Lee vanished before his eyes.

Sasuke turned and looked upwards. Lee was preparing to do an attack, spinning in the air.

"Konoha Senpuu!" said the green-clad Genin.

Sasuke dodged the first kick, but found that he couldn't with the next one.

'_I can't dodge! I have to guard!_' he thought, and crossed his arms in front of his face.

Seeing this, Lee made a one-handed hand seal.

'_Nani?_' thought Sasuke before he was kicked very hard in the cheek and sent flying across the room.

"Sasuke-kun!" said Sakura when she saw Sasuke get kicked.

Lee stood up straight again and looked at Sasuke's crumpled form. Sasuke began to make jerky movements, trying to move, but all he found was pain.

'_What was that…_' he thought.

Sakura watched, thinking, '_He guarded that attack for sure…_'

Sasuke managed to pull himself up, saying to himself, "It went through my guard… What was that, a Ninjutsu (Ninja Technique)? Or a Genjutsu?"

'_Just as I thought, you can still stand up,_' thought Lee, watching Sasuke carefully.

"Oh well, I'll use this time to get used to using my 'things'. I'll show you," said Sasuke.

Sakura gasped and thought, '_What…are those…?_'

Sasuke opened his eyes, which were now red with two tomoe going around each pupil.

'_Sharingan ("wheel eye")? When did Sasuke get those? Why are they appearing in his eyes? And it's for both eyes!'_

'_So these are the Sharingan I've heard about!_' thought Lee.

'_Sasuke-kun _is_ amazing. If he possesses the same kekkei genkai (bloodline limit) as Kakashi-sensei, he can see through that fuzzy eyebrows guy's jutsu!_' thought Sakura excitedly.

'_Genjutsu or Ninjutsu… It's magic either way. I'll reveal the secret!_' thought Sasuke, and then took off after Lee again.

'_Sasuke-kun is becoming strong. He lives up to the Uchiha clan name! Yes, Sasuke-kun will not lose to a guy like that!_' thought Sakura, glancing at Lee.

But Lee kicked Sasuke again, this time in the stomach, and once again, he was flying through the air in pain.

'_What? His Sharingan was…!_' thought Sakura, her expression changing into one of fear.

'_I can't detect it with my Sharingan? Could it be that his moves are…?_' thought Sasuke.

"Sou (yes, right)," said Lee, finishing Sasuke's thoughts, "my moves are neither Ninjutsu or Genjutsu."

Then he took off after Sasuke. Naruto began to come to, clutching his head.

He saw what was happening and said, "Sasuke!"

Sasuke began dodging all the kicks and punches Lee sent his way, and delivered his own as well. But Lee jabbed his elbow into Sasuke's stomach, and the Uchiha staggered back, gasping for air.

"Sou, my moves are Taijutsu (hand-to-hand combat), Sasuke-kun," said Lee before leaping into the air and appearing behind Sasuke.

"You may not be able to believe it right away, but…" said Lee.

"Chikushou ('damn it', 'shit')!" said Sasuke, swinging his arm to hit Lee, but the Taijutsu-user had dodge out of the way.

"I hear that the Sharingan has the ability to see through Genjutsu, Taijutsu, and Ninjutsu. You can definitely see through and deal with Genjutsu and Ninjutsu that require forming seals and needing chakra. But for Taijutsu, it's a little different," explained Lee.

"What do you mean?" asked Sasuke.

"Even if you can see my movement with your Sharingan, your body does not have the speed to keep up with mine. In other words, there's no point even if you can see with your eyes, if you can't keep up with your body. Do you know that there are genius-types and hardworking-types among the strong? If your Sharingan is a genius-type that carries the blood of an Uchiha…" said Lee, and Sasuke began running at him.

"…then I am hardworking-type that continuously improved my Taijutsu," finished Lee, and Sasuke swung a punch at him.

"Your Sharingan and my ultimate Taijutsu skills are a bad combination," said Lee as he dodged a kick, and then began to attack.

'_I have to guard it!_' thought Sasuke, and then Lee kicked him in the chin.

As Sasuke flew through the air for the third time that day, Lee knelt down on the floor on all fours and then disappeared. He reappeared behind Sasuke, who glanced back.

'_Kage Buyou (Shadow Dance)_,' thought Sasuke with realization.

"And I will prove to you with this move," said Lee, and the bandages around his arms began to unravel, "that hard work surpasses geniuses!"

'_What is he going to do?_' thought Sasuke with dread.

"I win!" said Lee, and then suddenly a paper windmill came out of nowhere and pinned the end of one his bandages to the wall.

"Huh?" said Naruto and Sakura, who had gasped in surprise.

"That's…!" said Lee.

"Stop right there, Lee!" said a giant red tortoise with yellow swirling designs on it; it wore a blue Konohagakure hitai-ite around its neck.

Lee began to fall and Sasuke thought, '_What happened?_'

Lee landed on his feet, but Sasuke certainly wasn't going to.

"Sasuke-kun!" said Sakura, and ran to catch him.

She managed to catch him somewhat, and prevented him from hitting the ground. Hard.

Lee was crouching near the tortoise in a submissive pose.

'_Sasuke was beaten? What happened after I fainted?_' thought Naruto.

Sasuke was now up and kneeling, and Sakura kneeled beside him.

"Daijoubu (are you okay), Sasuke-kun?" asked Sakura, but Sasuke didn't say anything; he just stared at Lee.

'_He's disturbed… He couldn't even fall safely…_' thought Sakura.

Meanwhile, Lee was speaking with the tortoise (8).

"You were watching?" he said quietly.

"Lee, that move is forbidden!" said the tortoise loudly.

Naruto was watching the tortoise with a bemused expression.

'_What is that turtle?_' he thought.

"Sumimasen ('I'm sorry', 'excuse me'), I got carried away…" said Lee, who looked really humble.

'_He's getting scolded. Is that…the fuzzy eyebrows guy's sensei?_' thought Naruto with realization.

Lee looked up at the tortoise, and saw it glaring at him. He jumped up in fright.

"But I wasn't going to use the Ura (Reverse) version! Really, I'm telling the truth…!" babbled Lee, sweating profusely.

Naruto stood and thought, '_I'm pretty sure now!_'

Sasuke and Sakura were both staring at Lee trying to explain things to a tortoise, and looked pretty confused.

"Ano sa, ano sa," said Naruto, running over to his teammates.

"What?" said Sakura.

"That's a turtle, right? Right?" said Naruto, pointing at the tortoise and not looking so sure of himself.

"Isn't that obvious just by looking?" said Sakura rudely.

"Ano sa, ano sa, a turtle can become a ninja sensei too?"

"I don't know!" said Sakura.

"You fool!" said the tortoise to Lee.

Lee flinched and closed his eyes, hunkering his head down as if he expected to get hit.

"Did you think that excuse would work? You should know very well what it means for a shinobi to expose his move!" said the tortoise.

"Ossu!" said Lee.

Sasuke wiped his face and thought angrily, '_I lost to these weird guys…?_'

He began shaking with fury.

"Are you prepared to face the consequences?"

"Ossu…" said Lee in a depressed manner.

"Gai-sensei, please take care of the rest!" said the tortoise, and a shinobi appeared on the tortoise's back.

"You guys are in the springtime of your life, aren't you!" said the shinobi.

Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura all gaped. This guy looked just like Lee!

Naruto made sounds that sounded suspiciously like retches and said, "An even more unique guy came out!"

"Yo (hey), Lee," said the newcomer, who did a thumbs-up.

"Super unique and super bobbed hair…and super eyebrows… That's the first time I've seen such a thing…" said Naruto.

A tick mark appeared on the back of Lee's shiny black head.

"Hora ('hey', 'hey, look')! Don't make fun of Gai-sensei!" shouted Lee, clenching his fist at Naruto.

"The hell I won't! We don't know how to react because of all these weird things!" shouted Naruto in retaliation.

"What did you say?" yelled Lee.

"Cut it out, Lee," said 'Gai-sensei', waving his hand.

"Ossu," said Lee.

Suddenly, the older man hopped down from the tortoise's back and drew back his fist.

"Baka yarou (you fool, you ass)!" yelled Gai-sensei as he punched Lee in the face.

Blood spurted from Lee's mouth as he flew backwards from the force of the blow. Naruto and Sakura exclaimed, and Sasuke stared disbelievingly.

Gai-sensei went and kneeled over by his crumpled student. Lee kneeled on all fours.

"Lee, you… You…" began the older man.

"Sensei!" said Lee.

"Lee!" said Gai, who had tears streaming down his face like rivers.

A sunset was in the background. (9)

"Sensei! I… I…" said Lee, who had tears streaming down as well.

"It's okay, Lee, don't say anymore," said Gai-sensei.

"Sensei!" shouted Lee, and jumped onto his sensei, hugging him.

"Lee!" said Gai, embracing his student.

A wave crashed behind them.

'_I lost to that guy,_' thought Sasuke, who had a really weird face on.

Sakura and Naruto looked pretty grossed out.

"Sou, this is youth!" said Gai, and the tortoise behind him had tears running down its face as well.

"Sensei!" said Lee as he cried into Gai's shoulder.

"That kind of situation isn't so bad," said Naruto nervously, pointing at the two dressed in green.

"Baka! It's dangerous! Too dangerous!" screeched Sakura, jabbing her finger at Naruto's face.

Gai put his hand on Lee's shoulder and said, "It's okay now, Lee. It's normal to make mistakes when you're young."

"You're too kind, sensei," said Lee, who had snot coming out of his nose.

"Now, run one hundred laps at the training ground in the sunset!" shouted Gai, pointing outside.

"Hai, sensei!" said Lee, clenching his fists near chest level.

They both grinned in their imagined world of a sunset by the beach, and their teeth gleamed.

"Let's go!" said Gai.

"Ossu!" said Lee, and they began to leave.

"Hey! Chotto matte! We were still talking!" said Naruto.

"What are you going to do about the Chuunin exam? There isn't any time left!" said Sakura, spreading her arms out.

"What? Oh, yeah…" said Gai, stopping and turning around, rubbing the back of his neck.

He cleared his throat and said, "Lee, I'm going to punish you for fighting and breaking a promise after the exam, okay?"

"Hai!" said Lee, saluting his sensei.

"Do five hundred laps!" said Gai, placing one hand on his hip and the other in the air, an utterly feminine pose.

"Ossu!" said Lee.

"They're stupid," said Sakura softly.

"Ano sa, ano sa, who's that turtle?" said Naruto, pointing at the red tortoise.

Gai looked up at them and thought, '_They are Kakashi's…_'

Sakura noticed and cringed, saying, "Ah! He's looking our way!"

"You three, is Kakashi-sensei doing well?" asked Gai.

"You know Kakashi?" asked Sasuke.

"I don't just know him," said Gai, chuckling and grasping his chin.

"People call us eternal rivals," he finished.

"That sounds so fake!" yelled Naruto and Sakura.

"How rude! Gai-sensei is really–!" cried Lee, yet another tick mark appearing on his head.

"It's okay. Don't say it out loud. Show it in your attitude!" said Gai.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. Suddenly, Gai wasn't there beside Lee, and he appeared behind Team Seven. They all froze in shock.

"The record stands at fifty wins and forty-nine losses," said Gai, appearing to be deep in thought.

Team Seven turned around.

'_He…_' thought Sasuke.

"When did he…?" said Naruto, who looked really freaked out.

Gai jerked his thumb towards himself and grinned a white, toothy smile.

"Let me just tell you that I'm stronger than Kakashi," he said, and his teeth gleamed.

'_What…? He's fast… His speed is definitely better than Kakashi's. Is he human?_' thought Sasuke.

"How's that? Gai-sensei is amazing, isn't he?" called Lee from across the room.

'_Chikushou…_' thought Sasuke.

"Lee caused you trouble, but please forgive him for the sake of my face. This refreshing face, that is," said Gai, obviously full of himself.

'_He's better than _Kakashi? _Chikushou, he's not bluffing_,' thought Sasuke, clenching his fist.

"Lee and the three of you should get to the classroom soon," said Gai, and threw a kunai at the paper windmill that pinned Lee's bandage to the wall.

The kunai knocked down the windmill and the bandage fell to the floor. Lee began wrapping up his hands. Naruto noticed the condition of them.

'_His…_' thought Naruto, wondering why Lee's hands were so banged up.

"Do your best, Lee! Farewell!" said Gai, saluting his student.

"Ossu!" said Lee, and Gai disappeared in poof of smoke.

"Huh?" said Team Seven, and the red tortoise disappeared in the same way.

"Sasuke-kun. Let me say this before I go," said Lee, and Sasuke faced him.

"To be honest, I came here to test my skills. I lied a while ago. The strongest of the Konoha Genin is on my team. I entered this exam to defeat him. And you are one of my targets, as well," said Lee.

Sasuke gritted his teeth and began to shake in anger.

"Prepare yourself for the exam!" said Lee, and then jumped up onto the level he had jumped down from.

After Lee had disappeared, Sakura turned to Sasuke.

"Sasuke-kun," she said.

"Ha! Looks like the Uchiha clan isn't that great after all," said Naruto.

Sakura's expression turned angry and she clenched her fist, saying, "Naruto!"

"Urusai. Next time, I'll slaughter him," said Sasuke, his tone dangerous.

"You lost so badly, though," said Naruto, who looked indifferent.

"What's with you, Naruto!" said Sakura.

Sasuke gave Naruto a death-glare, and Naruto met it fearlessly. Then he looked down.

"You saw his hands, right? That fuzzy eyebrow guy must have trained a lot, every day… Trained more than you. That's all there is to it," said Naruto.

Sasuke looked like he wanted to chop off Naruto's head, but he turned away, his posture stiff and his head lowered.

'_Sasuke-kun,_' thought Sakura, seeing Sasuke's defeated stance.

'_Good…_' thought Sasuke, clenching and unclenching his fist.

Sakura and Naruto looked up when Sasuke said, "Hmph! This is getting interesting… The Chuunin exam, that is!"

Naruto grinned, saying, "Yeah!

Sakura smiled and said, "Yes!"

"Let's go, Naruto, Sakura!" said Sasuke.

"Yeah!" said Naruto, clenching his fist.

They strode off past the pillars and outside. Upon entering the opposite building, they saw Kakashi-sensei standing outside their destination. They stopped and looked at their sensei.

"Sou ka, so Sakura came as well," said Kakashi.

"Huh?" said Team Seven.

"You can now officially register for the Chuunin exam," said Kakashi.

"Huh? What do you mean?" asked Sakura.

"To tell you the truth, this exam can only be taken in teams of three," explained Kakashi.

"But you said that we could decide if we wanted to take it or not!" said Sakura.

"Yeah, I did," said Kakashi simply.

"You lied?" asked Sakura, not quite believing what she was hearing.

Kakashi looked out the window and said, "Yes. If I said that, Sasuke and Naruto would force you to take it. Even if you didn't want to take the exam, if Sasuke asked you, you would take the exam anyway. For Sasuke…and Naruto."

"So what would have happened if only Sasuke-kun and Naruto came here?" asked Sakura.

"I would have prohibited them from taking the exam and not allowed them through these doors. But the three of you came here of your own free will. Sakura, Naruto, and Sasuke, well done," said Kakashi, smiling, his visible eye forming an upside down 'U'.

"I'm proud of the three of you. You're my team. Now go," said Kakashi, moving out of the way of the door.

"All right! Let's go!" said Naruto.

Team Seven moved to go open the door, when it opened on its own accord. And someone poked their head out. A delicious, fading scent hit Kakashi's nose, and made him stiffen.

'_It's that same scent from earlier in the week…_' he thought.

"Oh? I _thought_ I heard someone talking out here," said Kagome, who was sporting a black eye.

"Kagome-chan! What happened to your face?" asked Naruto in surprise.

Kagome opened the doors all the way and she could be seen rubbing the back of her neck and laughing nervously.

"Some shinobi swung a punch at me. He bumped into me and didn't apologize, so when I told him that he was a baka, he gave me this," said Kagome, grinning and pointing at the shiner she had.

"Doesn't it hurt?" asked Sakura.

"Un, but it'll go away," said Kagome, smiling cutely.

"What did you do when he punched you?" asked Naruto.

"I punched him back. An eye for an eye, you know? He's in there whining about how much it hurts right now," said Kagome, jerking her thumb over her shoulder and grinning.

Sakura sweatdropped; how was this girl so cheerful about punching people in the eyes? Perhaps she was crazier than she had thought?

Kagome blinked in surprise when she saw Kakashi standing beyond Naruto's team.

"Excuse me, but what is your name, please?" she asked Kakashi politely.

"Hatake Kakashi," said Kakashi, watching the girl carefully.

"You must be Naruto's sensei! Watashi wa Higurashi Kagome desu, from Tsuki no Kuni. Douzo yoroshiku (nice to meet you)," said Kagome, bowing deeply like she had been taught.

"Heh heh! You're so polite, Kagome-chan!" said Naruto, his hands behind his head.

Kagome stood up straight, and her gaze slid to the covered eye that this 'Hatake Kakashi' had.

'_That raw chakra that is pouring out… It feels so familiar…_' she thought.

Sasuke and Kakashi were watching Kagome. Sasuke was beginning to suspect the girl came from a noble clan because of her manners, which were akin to a hime's (princess's). Kakashi was watching her because she was staring at his hidden Sharingan.

"Oi! Gaki! What are you doing! We're supposed to stick together!" said a voice behind Kagome.

Kagome sighed and said, "I have to go. My teammate is very rude and impatient."

"I heard that!" said the same voice.

"Sumimasen," said Kagome, bowing again swiftly.

Then she disappeared, and left the doors standing open. Team Seven glanced at each other, and then went through the doors. The doors closed behind them, leaving Kakashi all alone in the hallway.

'_Higurashi Kagome, ka? I'll have my eye on you. You're definitely not what you appear to be,_' thought Kakashi.

_**Owari**_

-o-o-o-

**Omake: What Happened When Kagome Woke Miroku Up**

"Oi! Get up!" Kagome yelled, kicking Miroku in the ribs.

The houshi lay as if dead on the futon that had been supplied for him. When he didn't wake, Kagome's eyebrow twitched angrily, and she kicked him again.

This time, it worked. Miroku rolled onto his back and opened his violet eyes blearily. He squinted and rubbed his eyes.

"That girl must've killed me, for there is a ferocious oni (troll, goblin) of Hell standing over me, telling me to get up," he groaned.

"WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL ME?" Kagome roared, grabbing Miroku by the front of his shirt.

He blinked in surprise and said, "Oh. It's just you."

"Of course it's me, you dolt! Who else would it be?" Kagome yelled.

"The tooth fairy," answered Miroku, and there was an awkward silence.

Kagome dropped Miroku with a 'thump!' and said, "You're unbelievable."

-o-o-o-

**Vocabulary**

Dattebayo – Naruto's catch phrase that roughly translates as 'I get it'

Tsukikage – 'moon shadow', leader of Tsukigakure

Kore – means 'this' or as a laughing or appreciation signal in katakana, but Konohamaru uses it like a catch phrase at the end of his sentences

Keiko-gi – the shirt of a martial-arts trainee's uniform

Ka? – 'Eh?' but is also used as a spoken question mark

Sandaime – Third, referring to the Third Hokage

San – a suffix applied to the end of a person's name that can mean "Miss" "Mr." or "Mrs."

Yare yare – 'well, well' 'oh, boy'

Sama – a suffix that refers to a lord or lady or someone of noble or royal status

Ano sa – means 'hey', but can also mean 'so'

Ossu – 'sir' as in 'yes, sir!'

Watashi wa Higurashi Kagome desu – I am Higurashi Kagome

**Author's Notes**

(1) -_-;

(2) He has two arms in this story

(3) The keiko-gi I have in mind comes about a couple of inches below the elbows

(4) Gomen (sorry) if I'm embarrassing or grossing out anyone right now. I HAD to explain why the dogs were chasing her!

(5) O.O

(6) OoO;

(7) Remind you of anyone? :D lol

(8) O.O

(9) -_-; – WTF?

-o-o-o-

Hee hee hee! Here it is! Kagome isn't shown very much, so I'll try to put her in more! But watching and typing at the same time takes up so much time…

***sigh***

Ja ne!


	4. Chapter III: Test

Disclaimer: "…"

Lawyers: ***have arms crossed and are tapping their feet***

Kuroi: "…"

Lawyer 1: "Say it."

Kuroi: ***looks up, pouting*** "…Do I have to?"

Lawyer 2: "YES!" ***starts throwing all sorts of weird random objects at her***

Kuroi: ***ducks for cover as a Sesshoumaru plushie come flying at her head*** "Fine! I don't own Naruto or InuYasha!"

Lawyer 2: "And what else?"

Kuroi: ***rolls eyes and begins speaking monotonously*** "They belong to the oh-so powerful Takahashi Rumiko and Kishimoto Masashi. All hail these amazing mangaka (manga artists) that have given life to Naruto and InuYasha."

Lawyer 1: ***throws something anyway***

Kuroi: ***object hits her on the head*** "Itai!"

Also, my mom, being the nosy person that she is, made me realize something. She said, when she saw part of my story, "You're not plagiarizing, are you?" I wanted to tell her to mind her own f***ing business, but I'm not allowed to cuss in front of my parents. But anyway, **I do not own the subtitle translations on the Japanese versions of Naruto. They belong to whoever the hell translated them**.

**Ages (of people not seen previously):**

Ino – 12

Shikamaru – 12

Chouji – 12

Kiba – 12

Shino – 12

Hinata – 12

Neji – 13

Tenten – 13

Yakushi Kabuto – 19

Morino Ibiki – 27 (he looks older ;D LOL)

Tobitake Tonbo – 27

Mitarashi Anko – 24

Hanakami Kikyou – 16

Ookamiki Kouga – 16

Shisei Bankotsu – 17

"talking"

'_thinking_'

'**Bijuu talking to host**'

'_**telepathy**_'

**Chapter Three: Test**

-o-o-o-

Zasetsu mamire ryuukou ni magire  
Shiawase na furi wo shite utau  
Motto hashire to iikikashite  
Mubou ni mo sotto kazakami he  
Kita michi wo ichibetsu yutori wa gomen  
Shimensoka sansen ni tsugu ONE GAME

Smeared with frustration and distracted by fads  
I pretend to be happy and sing  
I run further recklessly and quietly to where the wind is blowing  
As I glance at the road which I came from with time to spare  
With all the declining enemies surrounding me  
What comes after a war is one game

~ 'Velonica' (Bleach Opening Theme 9)  
Aqua Timez

-o-o-o-

"Sugee ('wow', 'amazing')… said Naruto, as he gazed out into the sea of assembled Genin.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes at the hundreds of competitors.

"What is this…?" said Sakura.

All three looked shocked. The room was filled with benches and tables, and all of those benches were filled by ninja. There was a menagerie of hitai-ite from many different shinobi nations. For now, the ninja were in leisurely positions, but many of them were staring at the newcomers who had come in through the doors. And they weren't friendly stares either.

"There's so many people! Are these people taking the exam? They all seem so strong…" said Sakura, as her gaze swept across the room. She gulped.

"Sasuke-kun! You're late!" came a feminine voice that sounded overjoyed.

Suddenly, a blonde-haired kunoichi (female ninja) with pale blue eyes came running up and threw her arms around Sasuke's neck. Sasuke glared.

"I've been eagerly waiting for you ever since I heard that I could see you for the first time in a long time!" said the girl.

Sakura made a complete one-eighty at the sight of the girl, and a tick mark appeared on her forehead.

"Get away from Sasuke-kun, you Ino-pig!" yelled Sakura, pointing at the girl.

The blonde girl laughed and removed her arms from around Sasuke's neck, though she did keep an arm around his shoulder.

"Oh my, it's you, Sakura-chan! Your forehead is wide and you're still ugly…as usual!" said 'Ino'.

"What did you say!" growled Sakura, clenching her fists in front of her.

Smiling, Ino pulled down her right eyelid and stuck her tongue out at Sakura. Sakura growled again.

"What, are you three going to take this troublesome exam, too?" said a new voice.

Everyone looked and saw Nara Shikamaru and Akimichi Chouji. Shikamaru, who had spoken, was a laid-back shinobi with his hair up in a spiky ponytail and his hitai-ite tied on his upper left arm. He always complained and was lazy about everything. Naruto thought of him as 'a complaining baka.'

Akimichi Chouji was big-boned shinobi who always seemed to be eating. He was currently eating a bag of potato chips at a steady rate. His hitai-ite looked like a pair of Speedo underpants on top of his head. On both of his cheeks was a red spiral, probably tattoos. He was 'a fat idiot that could only eat', according to Naruto.

"Hey, it's the idiot trio," said Naruto.

Shikamaru stepped up and said, "Stop calling us that. How annoying."

"Sasuke-kun is mine," said Ino, who again pulled down her eyelid and stuck out her tongue at Sakura.

Ino's full name was Yamanaka Ino. Her long, pale-blonde hair was pulled back tightly in a ponytail, except for a section of bangs that stuck out over her right eye. Her eyes were closer to dark teal than anything. She wore a short china dress that was dark purple, and baggy white arm mufflers on her lower arms. Underneath the china dress she had bandages wrapped around her body.

Her hitai-ite was tied around her waist so that the Konoha emblem was like a belt buckle on her front. There were also bandages wrapped around her waist tightly underneath the hitai-ite. Ino always fought with Sakura over who 'owned' Sasuke. She was Sakura's rival and 'a Sasuke freak.'

"Yeah! Found you all!" said yet another new voice, one that sounded eager.

A boy wearing a hood that resembled an Eskimo's and with a white ninken (ninja dog) on top of his head stepped forward with his two teammates. Two red triangles were on his cheeks. He wore a grey coat that had black fluffy fur on the cuffs, the same fur as on his hood. He also wore black pants. His name was Inuzuka Kiba, and the ninken puppy on his head was called Akamaru. Apparently, Akamaru went everywhere with Kiba, who always acted like he owned the place.

"So I see that everyone is here," said Kiba boisterously.

"Konnichiwa (formal/polite 'hello')…" said the girl behind Kiba quietly.

"Hm?" said Naruto, looking at her.

The girl blushed and looked away. She obviously had a crush on Naruto.

Her name was Hyuuga Hinata, and she had those same pale eyes as Rock Lee's male teammate. Her dark blue hair shone with lighter blue highlights, and it resembled a bowl cut, totally covering her forehead except for two longer sections on the side of her face.

The last teammate of Kiba's was called Aburame Shino. He wore sunglasses with round lenses and a light green jacket that came up and hid half of his face and head from the neckline. He said nothing, glancing at his former-classmates.

"What? So you three made it, too? Mataku (geez)…" said Shikamaru in his usual bored tone.

"I see, so all nine Genin rookies this year are going to take the exam. How far do you think we can get, Sasuke-kun?" asked Kiba, who failed to notice Akamaru sniffing, then carefully jumping off his partner's head and disappearing into the sea of Genin.

"You seem confident, Kiba," said Sasuke, who was smirking slightly.

-o-o-o-

Kagome was sitting near her teammates quietly and waiting patiently for the exams to commence. InuYasha and Miroku were talking quietly to each other. Near the entrance, she could hear some rookie Genin, Naruto among them, talking loudly and boasting among themselves. She thought this was somewhat stupid, especially since some of the older, more-experienced Genin were giving them the evil eye.

She would not fail this exam! For eight years, she had trained in nindou (the way of the ninja), determined to get strong enough so that no one would never _not_ take her seriously again. She had waited six years for this chance, ever since the Tsukikage denied her taking the exam at age seven.

But how could she have people take her seriously? The only way was through combat, because her outward appearance was not very intimidating. To anyone else, she was just a small kunoichi that looked fairly weak. But her Doujutsu ('eye technique', or just a kekkei genkai) was intimidating…

'_I'll show them! I'll show ALL of them not to underestimate Higurashi Kagome, Nishi no Tonbo (Dragonfly of the West)!_' thought Kagome with determination.

A sniffing sound brought her out of her reverie, and something was curling around her legs. Glancing down at her feet in surprise, Kagome spotted a small white dog, rubbing against her legs like a cat.

"Oh? Where did you come from?" said Kagome, leaning down and holding out her hand for the dog to sniff.

The dog smelled her hand and yipped. He rubbed against her hand, again acting like a cat. Figuring he was a ninken to one of the gathered Genin, Kagome squatted down next to the dog.

"What's your name?" she asked.

The dog yipped and barked.

"Akamaru? That's a handsome name. My name is Higurashi Kagome," said the Genin girl, smiling.

Akamaru barked out a question.

"Oh, this?" said Kagome, pointing to her eye, which already looked like it was a couple of days old, "It's nothing. Some ninja punched me. He was very rude."

Akamaru growled.

"Iie, iie! You don't have to do that! I punched him back, so we're even!" said Kagome, sweatdropping and waving her hands in front of her.

Akamaru relaxed and whined.

"Where is your partner? What is his name?" asked Kagome.

Akamaru barked and looked towards the entrance of the classroom.

"Inuzuka…Kiba? That's a very…doggy…name. He's over there?" said Kagome, and Akamaru coughed in agreement.

The ninken pup allowed Kagome to pick him up and Kagome stood, planning to return him to this 'Inuzuka Kiba'. The small dog snuggled into her chest.

"Oi. Gaki. Where are you going?" said InuYasha.

"Returning Akamaru to his partner," said Kagome simply.

InuYasha raised an eyebrow at the girl. For some reason, probably due to having an inuyoukai (dog demon) sealed inside of her, Kagome was able to understand the speech of dogs.

"Keh. Don't go blaming me when you get yourself punched in the other eye. Try not to get into _too_ big of a brawl if you do," said InuYasha, snorting and looking away.

Kagome pulled down her eyelid, squinted the other eye shut, and stuck out her tongue at InuYasha. Then she stomped away to look for Akamaru's partner.

-o-o-o-

"Oi, kimi-tachi (you guys)," said a silver-haired boy with black eyes and glasses, as well as a Konoha hitai-ite.

The three rookie teams glanced at him.

"You should quiet it down a little," the boy said, coming to a stop before them with his hands on his hips.

"So you're the nine rookies that just graduated from the Academy, correct? You're all fooling around with those kawaii faces. Mataku (geez), this isn't a field trip," said the boy.

"Who are you to tell us that?" asked Ino, miffed by his comment.

"I am Yakushi Kabuto. Look around you," said the boy.

The three rookie teams looked around the classroom, and saw that almost every single person was in their late teens or early twenties. And they were all glaring at the Naruto's, Kiba's, and Ino's teams. The ones behind the rookies seemed to be particularly mean-looking.

"The ones behind you are from Amegakure. They have a short temper. Everyone is tense since it's right before the exam. I warned you so that you won't get picked on," said Kabuto.

Everyone turned to face him again, and he smiled and lowered his head,

"I guess it can't be helped though, since you are just rookies who don't know anything. It makes me remember the old me," he said, looking up.

"Kabuto-san…was it?" asked Sakura.

"Yeah," said Kabuto.

"Is this your second time, then?" Sakura said.

"Iie, my seventh time."

Shikamaru looked surprised.

"This exam only takes place twice every year, and it's my fourth year," explained Kabuto.

"That means you know a lot about this exam, right?" asked Sakura, feeling hopeful.

"Yeah," said Kabuto again.

"Haaah! So you must be an expert, Kabuto-san," said Naruto.

"But he hasn't passed it," Shikamaru pointed out.

Kabuto laughed and rubbed the back of his neck, saying, "Yeah, that's true."

"Is the Chuunin exam that difficult? This is getting even more troublesome," said Shikamaru, looking really lazy and bummed out.

"Maybe I should give my kawaii underclassmen some information, then…" began Kabuto, rummaging around in a pouch at his side.

He took out a stack of orange cards with green edges.

"…With these recognition cards," he finished, spreading a few in front of his face.

"Recognition cards?" said Sakura.

"In simple terms," began Kabuto, sliding the cards back into their stack, "it's a card that has information burned into it using my chakra."

Kabuto knelt down, balancing on his knees and the tips of his toes, and placed the cards in front of him.

"I've collected information on this exam for the past four years. There's about two-hundred cards total. It looks white, but…" said Kabuto, turning over a card that looked blank.

He placed his forefinger straight down on the card's surface, and it began spinning.

"…to get the information from this card…" said Kabuto.

"What are you doing?" asked Sakura.

"It's made so that you can't view it without my chakra. Like this," said Kabuto, making a one-handed hand seal.

A poof of smoke came from the card, and it was no longer blank. Where the white space had been was now a map of what appeared to be the ninja countries.

"Sugoi ('cool', 'amazing'), what information is this?" asked Sakura again.

"The exam's total number of examinees and countries participating. It also has the number of participants from each hidden village."

"What's that smaller country pictured in the corner? I don't recognize it or the moon symbol on the card," said Ino.

"That is Tsuki no Kuni, a small, mostly-unknown country far to the west of here. The moon symbol is the emblem of Tsukigakure, pictured on their hitai-ite. It is rumored that the training their ninja go through is brutal," said Kabuto.

'_That girl, Higurashi Kagome, is from there. Their training can't be that hard; she looked really weak. But appearances can be deceiving…_' thought Sasuke.

Kabuto cleared his throat and said, "Anyway, let me ask, why do you think we do the Chuunin exam together?"

Nobody said anything, and the only sound from the rookies was Chouji rapidly eating his potato chips. (1)

"First, it's to deepen the friendly relationships with the other countries. Next, it's to heighten the level of the ninja. That is what they say," said Kabuto.

"'That is what they say'?" repeated Sasuke with a little confusion.

"Sou, the real purpose is to confirm the level of the shinobi in each adjacent country to try and balance out the power," explained Kabuto.

"Power? Balance?" said Naruto, not really taking in what was being said.

"And why do they go through such a troublesome task?" asked Shikamaru.

Kabuto reached out over the card leisurely and the information on the card vanished, leaving it blank again.

"If they don't do that, the weak countries will be invaded and dominated by the strong ones. So they need to check and restrain each other's powers. It's just my guess, though," said Kabuto, and everyone was quiet for a couple of seconds.

"Are there any cards there that have detailed personal information?" asked Sasuke.

"Yes. Is there someone that interests you?" asked Kabuto.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes and said, "Yes."

Kabuto replaced the blank card back onto the stack, tapped it to make sure the cards were even, and said, "The information of this examinees are not perfect, but I've burned and saved them. (2) They include the information about the nine of you, as well. Tell me whatever you know about the people you that interests you…" he held up a card, "I'll look it up for you."

"Gaara from Sunagakure, Rock Lee from Konoha, and Higurashi Kagome from Tsukigakure," said Sasuke, and Sakura, plus Ino, glanced at him.

'_That puny girl that Naruto's been hanging around with? Why does Sasuke-kun want to know about her!_' thought Sakura jealously.

'_Kagome…? Isn't that a girl's name? Sasuke-kun wants to know about a _girl_?_' thought Ino.

"Oh, you know their names! Then it won't take much time," said Kabuto, and made a slashing motion over the deck of cards.

Everyone waited impatiently for the cards, and Sasuke looked really determined to know about the people he had asked about.

Kabuto held up three cards and said, "Here we go."

"Show me," said Sasuke.

Naruto glanced back and forth between Kabuto and Sasuke, folded his arms and said, "Yes, yes."

'_I don't know what's going on, but I'll just pretend I do. Why did he ask about Kagome-chan, anyway?_' thought Naruto.

"First, let's see Rock Lee," said Kabuto, and put his forefinger on it like he had the map card.

The card twirled a little and the information appeared on it in a poof of smoke.

"He's one year older than you. Mission experience: twenty D-rank ones and eleven C-rank ones. The squad leader is Gai. His Taijutsu skills have increased dramatically this past year, but his other skills are terrible. He got everyone's attention last year as a skilled rookie Genin, but he didn't take the Chuunin exam. This is his first time taking it, like you. His team is composed of Tenten and Hyuuga Neji."

"Huh? Hyuuga?" said Naruto.

Kabuto placed the next blank card on top of Rock Lee's and said, "Next, let's see Sabaku no Gaara (Gaara of the Sand Waterfall)."

He twirled the card and the information appeared.

"Mission experience, eight C-rank ones and… This is amazing! He did a B-rank mission as a Genin. He is a foreign shinobi and it's his first time taking the exam, so I don't have any more information on him. But…it seems that he has returned from all of his missions unharmed," said Kabuto, pushing his glasses higher up onto the bridge of his nose.

"He did a B-rank mission as a Genin, and was unharmed?" said Shikamaru, not quite believing what he was hearing.

"Who is he…?" said Naruto.

"Next, Higurashi Kagome," said Kabuto, and caused the information to appear.

"She's also a year older than you. Mission experience: five D-rank missions, thirty C-rank missions, and…nani? Another one! She's done _two_ B-rank missions, one when she was nine, and another when she was eleven, and both times she was almost completely unharmed. She was requested to take the Chuunin exams when she was seven, but was denied by the Tsukikage. So this is her first time taking the Chuunin exam, as well.

"Her squad leader is Taishou Sesshoumaru, and her team is composed of Taishou InuYasha and Kazetani Miroku. She even has a nickname: Nishi no Tonbo. For a foreign ninja, and considering this is her first time taking the Chuunin exam, I sure do have a lot of information on her," said Kabuto.

"That puny girl did _two_ B-ranks?" said Sakura in wonder.

"Sugoi! Kagome-chan is so strong!" said Naruto.

"A-ano (u-um), Kiba-kun? Where is Akamaru-kun?" asked Hinata quietly.

Kiba glanced at Hinata and said, placing his hand on top of his head, "Huh? He's right– Nani?"

His hands met thin air.

"Nan da–? When did he–? I didn't even notice him leave!" said Kiba, glancing around at the ground, hoping to see his ninken there.

"Ano, sumimasen (excuse me)? Are you Inuzuka Kiba?" said a new voice.

Everyone glanced behind Kiba and saw Kagome standing there, cuddling Akamaru to her chest.

"Akamaru! Where did you go?" exclaimed Kiba.

Kagome handed Akamaru to Kiba, who placed the little white dog on top of his head again.

"Arigatou gozaimasu (thank you very much), um…?" said Kiba.

"Oh, watashi wa Higurashi Kagome desu," said Kagome, bowing to him.

She stood up straight again and saw almost everyone, minus Naruto, Sasuke, Shino, and Hinata, gaping at her.

Sweatdropping, Kagome smiled nervously and said, "Ano, is something wrong?"

Naruto ran up to her and said, "Kagome-chan! You never told me that you were so strong! You did _two_ B-rank missions! And you almost took the Chuunin exam when you were seven!"

Kagome blinked, surprised. It was normal in Tsukigakure for Genin to take high-classed missions. Perhaps that was not the norm here?

"Un. I was almost sent on a third, but it was cancelled. In Tsukigakure, many Genin are sent on B-ranked missions. Is it not like that here…?" asked Kagome, looking around at their faces.

"Why weren't you allowed to take the Chuunin exam before?" asked Shikamaru.

"There were…complications," said Kagome, and thought back to when she had been denied access to the Chuunin exam.

_***Flashback***_

_Six year-old Kagome stood in the Tsukikage's office, her head lowered and her bangs shadowing her eyes. She was dressed in a simple black china dress with black shorts._

"_This girl is a hazard to everyone here in Tsukigakure! She nearly _killed _my students!" yelled one of the Jounin instructors, pointing at Kagome._

_The Tsukikage listened silently, and then stood._

"_Arigatou (thank you), Nakamura-san. I will deal with the situation," he said, gesturing politely to the door._

_Realizing he was not wanted, Nakamura begrudgingly bowed and turned to walk away. Then he turned back._

"_That child is nothing more than a monster! You should have destroyed her when you had the chance!" he protested, pointing at Kagome's turned back._

"_Be silent! Remove yourself from my presence at once!" said the Tsukikage coldly._

_Nakamura left and the Tsukikage turned back towards Kagome. He walked over and knelt down in front of her._

"_I'm sorry he said such hurtful words, Kagome-chan," he said._

"_It's nothing I haven't heard before. Why should I worry myself over it? " said Kagome quietly._

_The Tsukikage sighed and said, "Why don't you ever cry, Kagome-chan? It's normal for a child your age to cry at least once and a while."_

"_Crying is weak," said Kagome._

"_What happened today, Kagome?"_

"_A boy called me weak and pathetic. So I proved him wrong," said Kagome monotonously._

"_Kagome-chan, you need to stop this. You can't just attack people. You're no longer in Mizu no Kuni, and people aren't trying to harm you anymore. You can start over," said the Tsukikage soothingly._

"_It's the only thing I know how to do. What else would you expect?" said Kagome spitefully._

_The Tsukikage rubbed his eyes with one hand, and then said, "Kagome? What is it that you want in the whole wide world?"_

_Kagome raised her head and stared into his eyes. The Tsukikage was somewhat taken aback; Kagome rarely showed emotion, yet there was fiery determination burning in her eyes and her jaw was set, as well._

"_I want to get stronger! I want to become strong and respected by others, not looked down upon! I want to be acknowledged!" said Kagome, stepping closer with her fists clenched._

_The Tsukikage was shocked. This was the most he had heard out of her in a single day!_

_Sweatdropping slightly, the Tsukikage smiled and said, "I can arrange to help you get stronger. Sesshoumaru, my oldest son, you remember him? He's a Tokubetsu Jounin ('special high ninja') that trains those who have the potential to become great and renown. He's currently training my youngest son and the heir to the Kazetani clan. I can assign you to him, and also ask Kaede-sama down at the shrine to see if she will train you in your miko abilities. Would you like that?"_

_To his surprise, Kagome threw her arms around him and gave him a bear hug. The Tsukikage smiled and took that as a 'yes'._

_~A Year Later~_

_Kagome stood in the same place, but her demeanor was different. She was healthier, happier, and more confident. Her blue eyes were no longer hollow; instead, they shone with an inner fire. Behind her were her two teammates, Kazetani Miroku and Taishou InuYasha. And behind them, towering above all of them despite his thirteen years was Taishou Sesshoumaru. The Tsukikage, who had not seen Kagome in eleven months, was astounded by this change. _

"_Sesshoumaru, this is incredible… How on earth did you manage to get her to come out of her shell?" asked the Tsukikage._

"_Through hard training," stated Sesshoumaru simply._

"_You mean you beat her up," muttered InuYasha quietly._

_Sesshoumaru turned his gaze and glared into the back of InuYasha's head. The younger brother could feel holes being burned into his back by the intensity of the glare, and sweatdropped. He knew he was going to get it later._

"_Tsukikage-sama! I heard that the Chuunin exam is approaching! Sensei said that he didn't care if we entered or not! So, onegai, can we participate?" asked Kagome, clenching her fists under her chin._

"_Don't you think that it's a little early for them to enter, Sesshoumaru?" asked the Tsukikage, turning to his oldest son._

"_Kagome is at least Jounin level, and has been before I even took her on. Miroku and InuYasha are currently at Chuunin level in their training," stated Sesshoumaru._

"_I still think they are rather young, but I would let them participate. Unless…" said, the Tsukikage, trailing off._

"_Hai?" asked Miroku, leaning forward slightly with expectation._

_The Tsukikage directed his gaze into Kagome's and said, "Kagome-chan, has your temper improved at all? It has only been a year."_

"_I don't attack people anymore! I'm getting better at controlling my anger!" said Kagome in a pleading tone, but the Tsukikage knew that she was still a danger to those around her._

"_Gomen nasai (I'm sorry), Kagome-chan. I cannot allow you or your team to participate in the Chuunin exam. Until you have complete control over your temper, this will be my final decision."_

_Kagome hung her head, and her eyes became shadowed._

"_Understood, Tsukikage-sama," she said, bowing politely._

"_Keh, you're holding us back, gaki," said InuYasha._

"_Urusai na (shut the hell up)!" shouted Kagome, drawing back her fist and punching him in the nose._

_Miroku sighed and said, "You had that one coming, InuYasha."_

"_Shud ub!" said InuYasha, holding his bleeding nose and his eyes watering from the pain._

_Kagome said nothing, Sesshoumaru looked uninterested, Miroku looked exasperated, and the Tsukikage felt like Kagome had just proven what he had been saying. _

"_I thing she broge it!" said InuYasha thickly._

_Kagome huffed and turned to him, and placed her hands on either side of his nose to begin healing it. Gently, she coaxed the shattered bone back into place with her miko reiki, and InuYasha made protesting sounds all the while._

"_Urusai. This isn't the first time I've healed one of your broken noses, you big baby," said Kagome, her eyes trained on InuYasha's face._

_The Tsukikage sweatdropped; obviously, this wasn't the first time Kagome had broken InuYasha's nose and healed it._

_After Kagome was done, the Tsukikage asked, "Why did you heal InuYasha's nose when you were the one who inflicted the injury?"_

_Kagome smirked and said, "Because I can't stand him when he's been injured. He acts like such a wimp when he is."_

_***End Flashback***_

Sasuke now believed what Kabuto had said about the training being tough in Tsuki no Kuni. If their Genin were already taking such difficult missions… He inwardly shuddered, and wondered what had made Tsuki no Kuni take such measures. Then he noticed something.

Frowning, he looked at her eye, which had been purple and swollen only a few minutes ago. Now the swelling had gone down, and the bruised area was turning yellowish-green. It looked like she had been punched three days ago, not ten minutes! And hadn't her hair been a little bit shorter the first time he had seen her a week ago? Something about this girl was not right…

Everyone was gazing at her disbelievingly. Kagome was beginning to become a little bit nervous.

"Are you for real? And how did you know my name?" asked Kiba.

"Oh, Akamaru-kun told me," said Kagome.

"Akamaru _told_ you? You _understand_ inu?" said Kiba.

"Er, hai," said Kagome, wishing that these people would give it a rest.

Kiba looked baffled.

"You wouldn't happen to use summoning ninken, would you?" he asked suspiciously.

"I'm not tellin' you anything that involves my fighting styles," said Kagome defensively, but smiling all the while.

Kiba found himself blushing, and Naruto glanced at him curiously.

"Oi, Kiba! Why is your face turning red?" asked Naruto, oblivious.

Kagome seemed to be oblivious to her own charms as well. She looked at Kiba with concern.

"Are you alright? You're not coming down with something, are you?" asked Kagome, stepping closer to Kiba with worry in her eyes.

Kiba turned even redder and waved his hands in front of his face, saying, "Iie! I'm fine!"

"Are you sure?" said Kagome doubtfully.

Kiba gulped and nodded and Kagome seemed to accept his answer. She turned to rest of the group.

"I would very much like to hear your names. I already know Naruto-kun, Kiba-san, and Akamaru-kun, but I only know the first names of Naruto-kun's teammates. And I don't know the others," said Kagome.

"I'm Yakushi Kabuto," said the older boy.

"Akimichi Chouji," said the portly boy.

"Nara Shikamaru," said Shikamaru boredly.

"Yamanaka Ino," said the blonde girl, who was sizing up Kagome to see if she was a threat to her goal of getting Sasuke.

"Aburame Shino," said Shino quietly.

"H-hyuuga H-hinata," stuttered Hinata.

"Haruno Sakura," sneered the bubblegum-haired girl, glaring at Kagome.

"Uchiha Sasuke," said Sasuke, and several of them glanced at him shock.

Sasuke had not told his name to Rock Lee's teammate 'Hyuuga Neji'. So why was he telling this girl? Ino and Sakura began giving Kagome the evil eye, who glanced at them in confusion. Sasuke was also confused. This girl had not even reacted to his last name! Was it possible that she had never even heard of the great Uchiha clan?

"Well, I have to go. It was nice meeting you all. Ja ne," said Kagome cheerfully, and before anyone could react, she had disappeared back into the herd of Genin.

"That was a little weird," said Shikamaru.

Kabuto cleared his throat and flipped over blank card from the deck. He touched it and the map of the shinobi nations appeared again.

"As I saying, Konoha, Suna (Sand), Ame (Rain), Kusa (Grass), Taki (Waterfall), Oto (Sound), and Tsuki (Moon)," he said, and as he spoke each name, the emblem of each country and the number of participants from each appeared on the card.

"This year, many talented Genin from these hidden villages have come here to take the exam. Otogakure (Hidden Among the Sound) is a village of a small country that was made just recently, so I don't have much information on them."

He placed the cards back on the deck and said, "Either way, all of them are powerful hidden villages."

"I'm starting to lose confidence," said Hinata, looking troubled.

"It's too late to say that!" said Ino loudly at Hinata.

"In other words, the examinees here are all…" said Sakura with realization.

"Sou, it's not only Lee or Gaara or Kagome. All the people here are top Genin chosen from each country. This isn't that easy," said Kabuto, and Naruto hunched over and began shaking, his fists clenched at his sides.

Sakura looked at him and thought, '_Even this stubborn guy is nervous with the number of people and tense atmosphere. That's not surprising, though. Even if we're all Genin, we're just rookies. I feel uneasy about it, too. Demo (but)…looking at Naruto not acting like himself is kind of hard. Maybe I should cheer him up!_'

Sakura walked over to Naruto and said, "Ne (hey), Naruto. You don't need to be that scared…"

Suddenly Naruto yelled and spun around, causing Sakura to jump back in alarm. He pointed toward the crowd of Genin, and grinned.

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto! I'm not going to lose to any of you! Got that?" he yelled.

"Ne, what's with him?" Ino yelled at Sakura, who looked cross between mortified and angry.

'_I guess this idiot wouldn't get depressed… I was worried for nothing_,' thought Sakura.

"What's the point in provoking everyone?" Ino yelled into Sakura's ear.

"Don't ask me!" shouted Sakura, shaking her fist at Ino.

"Who else am I supposed to ask?" yelled Ino, an angry tick mark appearing on her temple.

"What did you say?" cried Sakura.

Naruto sighed and placed his hands behind his heads, and said, "That felt good!"

Sasuke actually smiled a little at Naruto's outburst, and so did Kabuto. But in the crowd of Genin, people were glaring, and talking amongst themselves.

-o-o-o-

"That guy is the person we met a while ago," said Kankurou to Gaara and the dark-blonde kunoichi.

"Weak dogs bark more often," said their female teammate.

-o-o-o-

"Is he a baka?" asked the newly-identified Tenten to Rock Lee and Hyuuga Neji.

"Looks like he's in good spirits," said Neji.

"He's burning with passion," said Lee.

"Maybe you didn't beat them enough, Lee," said Neji.

-o-o-o-

"Keh, looks like your little boyfriend is a complete imbecile," scoffed InuYasha.

"He's not my boyfriend," said Kagome, who was sitting with her eyes closed.

"Sure, he isn't. And pigs can grow wings and fly," said InuYasha, smirking.

The next second, a painful sensation erupted from his foot. InuYasha felt Kagome's chakra flowing into his keirakukei (chakra circulation system) painfully, one of her specialties. She ground her sandaled foot into his own and then lifted it.

"Baka," she said simply, a tick mark on her forehead.

"Don't you two ever stop fighting?" sighed Miroku.

-o-o-o-

The three ninja that had watched Sasuke's meeting with Gaara, who were Oto nin, watched as well.

"Did you hear that? They said that Otogakure is a minor village of a small country," said the male Oto nin with spiky hair.

"I'm hurt," said the other male, with the bandages on his face.

"Let's play with them a little, then," said their female teammate. (3)

The bandaged nin nodded and said, "Yeah, they spoke as if we're just leftover shinobi. Let's make him add this into his data… Shinobi from Otogakure are somewhat cruel."

-o-o-o-

Kabuto stood and Kiba, covering his mouth in mirth, "'I'm not going to lose to any of you'? You talk big."

"That baka. He just made everyone here his enemy," said Shikamaru.

Sakura ran up behind Naruto and wrapped her arms around his neck. Naruto gasped for air as she choked him.

"What are you saying?" she said.

"I just spoke the truth," gasped Naruto, and every Genin in the room glared even more.

Sakura waved her hand at them apologetically and said, "Everyone, it was a joke. He's a severe baka, so there's no need to take what a hasty baka and a guy that gets carried away easily says seriously. Please don't worry about it."

That did little to help the situation; if anything, the glaring Genin glared with even more intensity. Sakura noticed and switched her attention to the boy she had been choking to death previously.

"Everyone glared at me because of you! I'm going to beat you silly!" Sakura yelled at Naruto, who smiled nervously with his hands behind his head again.

-o-o-o-

"Shall we?" said the bandaged Oto nin.

"Let's go," said the spiky-haired Oto nin, and they took off at a high speed, causing Kankurou to lower the 'body' on his back, but to be stopped by a signal from Gaara.

Kabuto watched this from the corner of his eye.

-o-o-o-

"You need to learn to understand the atmosphere!" Sakura scolded Naruto.

"Okay…" said Naruto, his face scrunched up in indignation.

A whoosh was heard, and Kabuto turned. The spiky-haired Oto nin was attacking him from the air with kunai that he had taken out of his sleeves. Kabuto dodged the kunai and skidded away out of harm. The bandaged nin landed in front of Kabuto, made a hand seal, and drew back his fist to punch the grey-haired Konoha nin.

'_These guys are from Otogakure!_' thought Kabuto.

The Oto nin swung at Kabuto, who leaned back so that it would miss him.

'_He dodged it!_' thought Naruto and Sakura simultaneously.

'_It's a speed that I can deal with,_' thought Sasuke with a maniac-like smirk.

Just after the Oto nin missed, he was punched swiftly in the stomach by an unseen force. He flew back several feet, and his companions gaped in shock.

"Chikushou (dammit)! Do I have to do everything by myself!" said Kagome coldly, who now stood in front of Kabuto.

'_She was so fast! I didn't even see her appear!_' thought Sasuke.

'_She just punched out one of Oto's strongest!_' thought Kabuto, and then his glasses shattered.

"I see, so that's the kind of attack it was," he said, taking off his broken glasses.

"What's going on? You definitely dodged it! Why did your glass–" began Sasuke.

"It must have hit his nose. Keh! That's what happens for trying to look cool," said Shikamaru.

Suddenly, Kabuto began to feel faint and nauseous at the same time, and his vision blurred. Trembling, he fell down on all fours and broke out in a cold sweat. Kagome dodged the puke that he vomited up.

"He threw up!" said Naruto.

"Kabuto-san!" cried Sakura.

Everyone in the room either gaped or glared.

"Dosu! Are you alright?" asked the spiky-haired Oto nin, as his male teammate spluttered for air and sat up.

"You ama (bitch)…" said 'Dosu', getting to his feet and glaring daggers at Kagome.

"Who? Me? Why, I'm flattered," said Kagome, smirking and touching herself at the chest.

Naruto and Sakura ran up to the fallen Kabuto.

"Oi! Kabuto-nii-chan!" said Naruto.

"Daijoubu (are you okay)?" asked Sakura.

"Yeah, I'm okay," said Kabuto as they helped him up.

"Really?" said Sakura.

"You have guts, ama, to interfere like that. And you, you're not as good as I thought for a veteran who took the exam four years running," said Dosu, switching his gaze from Kagome to Kabuto.

"Write this in your card. The three from Otogakure will definitely become Chuunin," said Dosu's male teammate.

Naruto and Sakura gasped, while Sasuke thought, '_Kabuto should have dodged that attack. But why did he vomit?_'

"You sure are confident. Better hope you don't meet my teammates or I in a dark alley. You wouldn't want anything…_unfortunate_ to befall you," said Kagome, smirking, the hidden threat clear.

Suddenly, she resembled Sasuke.

"You sound confident yourself, _little girl_," said Dosu menacingly.

"Do I? I am merely warning you. Or maybe you _want_ to be sliced into little bits so small that even the scavengers can't eat them?" said Kagome, grinning darkly with cold eyes; she ignored his insult about her being 'little', a large feat for her.

'_What's happened to Kagome-chan? She's like a whole new person!_' thought Naruto.

'_Is this her true personality? Or…does she have more than one?_' thought Sasuke.

-o-o-o-

"Lee, what do you think about that attack?" said Neji to his teammate.

"There was no problem in dodging it. There must be some sort of trick," said Lee.

"But that girl took out that nin with just one punch," said Tenten.

-o-o-o-

Suddenly, a big poof of smoke appeared in front of the chalkboard in the front of the room.

"Quiet down! You punks!" said a deep male voice angrily.

Everyone watched in anticipation as the smoke cleared, revealing a man wearing a black trench coat with long scars on his face, and several other people wearing matching grey uniforms, though a couple of them wore a darker shade of it, with their hands behind their backs.

"Sorry to keep you waiting. I am the examiner of the first test of the Chuunin Selection Exam, Morino Ibiki," said the man in the black trench coat.

Several people gasped.

Ibiki pointed at the trio of Oto nin and said, "You three from Otogakure, don't think you can do anything you want before the exam! Do you want us to fail you already?"

"Sumimasen. I was excited, since this is my first exam," said Dosu.

Kagome rolled her eyes, knowing he didn't mean it. Ibiki obviously did too, since he smirked.

"This is a good chance to say this," began Ibiki, "You are not allowed to fight each other during the exam unless given permission by the examiners. Even if the permission is given, you are not allowed to kill the other. Pigs who go against me will fail immediately. Understood?"

Dosu's male teammate laughed and smirked, and said, "This exam seems so soft and easy."

Several of the people behind Ibiki chuckled darkly, but the scar-faced man ignored them.

"We will now begin the first exam of the Chuunin Selection Exam. Turn in your applications, take one of these number tags, and sit where the number tells you to. Then we will pass out the papers for the written exam," said Ibiki, holding up little square pieces of paper with numbers on them.

"Written…? Papers…?" said Naruto with confusion, making Sakura and Kabuto glance at him.

"Paper…" repeated Naruto, and then one of the examiners, whom Kagome recognized from earlier, held up a stack of papers.

"A paper test?" screamed Naruto, horrified.

-o-o-o-

Several minutes later, examiners occupied the chairs lined by the walls, and Genin sat in the benches with their tests in front of them, waiting to begin. Naruto was currently sweating nervously.

'_Everyone I know got separated from each other! What should I do…?_' thought Naruto, clutched his head.

Several seats behind him, Sakura giggled to herself and thought, '_He's depressed! He's depressed! This must be the worst type of exam for Naruto_.'

"Naruto-kun…" said a soft voice, and Naruto turned to see Hinata sitting on his right.

"You're Hinata, right? When did you…?" he asked, obviously not having seen her approach and sit down next to him.

Hinata blushed and said, "L-let's do our best."

Naruto smiled and said, "Sure."

-o-o-o-

Several seats away, Kagome watched this exchange with amusement.

'_Poor Hinata-san. Naruto seems really clueless as to how she feels about him. Ahh, young love… Matte (wait), what am I saying? I sound like an obaa-chan ('old woman', 'grandma')!_' thought Kagome.

Then she remembered who she was currently sitting next to, and inwardly groaned.

'_Why him? Why me? This guy gives off so much killing intent that it's driving me crazy! Because of my miko senses, I feel it much more acutely than normal people do!_'

Who was she sitting next to? It was the red-haired boy with the 'Ai' kanji on his forehead. Kagome didn't know his name, and she didn't want to ask, either.

'_Don't look at him. Don't provoke him in any way,_' thought Kagome, clenching her jaw.

-o-o-o-

Suddenly, Ibiki tapped a piece of chalk on the blackboard, leaving a small white dot.

"The First Exam has a few important rules. I will not accept any questions, so listen carefully," said Ibiki, tapping the board a couple more times with the chalk.

'"_Rules?" '"Won't accept any questions?"_' thought Sakura.

'_I'd love to see what would happen if someone _did_ ask him a question,_' thought Kagome, smirking.

"First rule is that you all are given ten points at the start," said Ibiki, writing on the board, "The written exam consists of ten questions and each is worth one point. This test is a deduction-based test. If you get one problem wrong, you will get one point deducted. If you get three problems wrong, your points will be reduced to seven."

'_If I get ten wrong, I get a zero_,' thought Naruto.

"Second rule. The pass-fail decision will be determined by your team's total points," said Ibiki.

A chorus of gasps and "Oh!" went around the room.

'_Great. InuYasha will probably flunk us,_' thought Kagome, shooting said teammate a dirty look.

Sakura had her head on the desk, and when she lifted it, a red mark was visible on her forehead.

"Wait! Your team's total points? What?" she yelled.

Kagome grinned nastily from behind her hand, anticipating what came next.

"Urusai! There is a reason for this. Just shut up and listen."

'_A reason?_' thought Sakura, who looked humbled after being yelled at.

"Not that you know, let's move on to the next rule. If an examiner determines that you cheated or do something similar during the test, each action will cause you to lose two points," said Ibiki.

The boy on Sakura's left said, "What?" and Sakura said, "Oh!"

"In other words," continued Ibiki, "there will be people who will be forced to leave this place without their tests being graded."

'_So there's a way to lose points besides getting the written problems wrong,_' thought Sakura.

'_I think I'm beginning to see where this is going. This is going to be one of those "test within a test" things, isn't it?_' thought Kagome, who was currently bored out of her mind.

"Those who try to cheat without thinking carefully will only hurt themselves," said Ibiki.

"We'll 'check' you at any time," said one of the examiners darkly, a.k.a Spiky Hair or Hagane Kotetsu, and several people flinched.

"You are all trying to become Chuunin. If you are a shinobi, act like a first-rate one," explained Ibiki.

'_Calm down. Yes, yes. Putting Naruto aside, Sasuke-kun and I will be okay. Even if Naruto gets a zero, we just have to make up for it,_' thought Sakura.

"Also, if anyone in a team gets a zero, everyone on that team will fail."

Sasuke flinched and Sakura yelled, "What did you say?"

Naruto hugged himself and thought, '_I feel two people trying to kill me…_' as Sasuke and Sakura glared holes in the back of his head.

"Naruto-kun…?" asked Hinata in concern, because her crush was a little green around the gills.

Kagome slowly turned in her seat and shot InuYasha a death glare. Fortunately for her, he caught it. He gulped at her expression, which said, 'You fail, and I'll kill you'.

"The last problem will be given forty-five minutes after the exam begins. You have one hour for the exam. Begin!" ordered Ibiki, and there was a rustling of paper and the sound of pencils being picked up.

Soon, the whole room was alight with the sound of scratching pencils.

'_Hmph. I was right. Basically, he told us that we could cheat; just don't get caught. I'll play it safe for the first few minutes, and try to answer some of the questions. Once I steal the answers, I'll give Naruto-kun some help. He doesn't look so hot,_' thought Kagome.

She looked over the answers and began answering them.

Sakura, who looked like she was about ready to crap herself, thought, '_I think I'm in a terrible situation. Naruto, you better not get a zero!'_

'_Chikushou, Naruto better not be shaking in his pants from the start. This isn't good,_' thought Sasuke, glancing at the orange-clad ninja.

Naruto sat clutching his head, and then looked up, grinning like a chimp.

'_Not! I've gotten through many tough situations like this. In situations like this, I just have to stay calm, keep quiet, and focus on the problems, and try hard on the problems that seem easy_,' thought Naruto, picking up his paper and looking down at it.

'_Eto (let's see), the first problem is… A cipher, eh…? Next one… Eto, the second problem is…_'

'"_**The parabola, B, represents a shuriken's maximum throwing distance of the enemy ninja, A, from a height of seven meters. Figure out the trait of the enemy ninja that can be observed from the ellipse formed by the shuriken (throwing star), and figure out the maximum throwing distance on flat ground. Explain your reasoning"**__,_' read Sasuke, the problem being number two.

'_What the hell? Of all things, they put arithmetic on the test! Kami-sama, you _really_ hate me, don't you!_' thought Kagome as she read problem number two.

'_This is a compound question that involves figuring out facts from indefinite conditions and physical analysis. Naruto can't solve this! Actually, most of the people here besides me can't figure this problem out. The other problems are hard ones as well,_' thought Sakura.

'_Yoshi (okay), let's go to the next one,_' thought Naruto, and his face began developing a pained expression.

His bangs shadowed his eyes for a second, and then he realized something, looking up in surprise. What it was that he realized remained somewhat of a mystery.

Meanwhile, Sasuke smirked and thought, '_I see. I don't understand. Not even one question._'

Naruto was holding his head in his hands, tears forming at the corners of his eyes.

'_Crap! This is really, really bad! What should I do…?_' he thought.

Sakura was calculating the number of teams that would be left after the test.

'_If I assume that only twelve or so can pass out of the fifty-three teams… We have to get as many points as possible no matter what. This system almost promotes cheating. I hope Sasuke-kun and Naruto won't start cheating. It should be okay. Naruto isn't that stupid. I know._'

Naruto, who looked like he was about to wet himself, thought, '_Stay calm. Be cautious. Be cautious, and…cheat so that I won't get caught!_'

In the front of the room, Ibiki turned as if he had heard the blonde Genin's thoughts and Naruto froze. Naruto promptly began hitting himself on the head with his knuckles.

'_Iie! I can't! I can't! I can't do something risky like that!_' he thought.

-o-o-o-

Sasuke was watching the examiners lined along the walls, each holding a pencil and a clipboard with papers on them.

'_They seem really cautious… It's almost as if they're assuming that we're going to cheat. They must check off stuff on those papers,_' he thought.

One of the examiners wrote down something on his clipboard, and Sasuke narrowed his eyes.

'_Someone was caught. Getting caught cheating was a two-point deduction. Two-point deduction, eh? Normally, you would be kicked out if you're found to be cheating just once,_' he thought, and then looked up in realization.

He thought back to Ibiki's words, the ones on cheating.

'_Sou ka (I see), I get it! This wasn't just a test to test our knowledge. Its true purpose is to also be a test to see one's information gathering skills using camouflaging and concealment methods! Shinobi need to think beyond the normal, was it? In other words, the examiner really wants us to not cheat without thinking carefully. But to do it like a first-rate ninja… And not be caught. _

'_If I think about it that way, the unusual point-deduction system, and the lenient two-point deduction for each cheating attempt makes sense. So what's being tested here is not to get detected by either the proctors or the one who's being cheated from and the gather correct answers. Notice this rule, Naruto! It's going to cost you this test if you don't!_' thought Sasuke, glancing at his teammate's back.

Naruto was shaking in his seat from anxiety. He looked like he was having a really hard time trying to decide whether to cheat or not.

'_Crap…_' he thought.

-o-o-o-

Kagome was pissed. All of the other questions were hard, and she had only managed to do the cipher. Sighing, she began using chakra to unwrap the bandages on her left forearm, and pretended to look like she was trying to solve a problem. The bandage loosened and slid off her arm onto the bench. What had been concealed beneath her bandages were a multitude of scars, and a long snaking tattoo that resembled a chameleon.

The chameleon was called Inpei, which meant 'concealment'. The design was made out of a special ink that Kagome had made herself and was charged with her reiki. What made the tattoo unusual was that Kagome could make it come to life, in a way, by using her reiki.

Pumping her reiki into the ink of the tattoo, Kagome watched out of the corner of her eye as Inpei came alive in her lap. He looked the same, still two-dimensional, but in this form, Inpei could take on chameleon-like properties, like blending in with his surroundings. And because he was two-dimensional, he would blend in better than a real chameleon.

What made Inpei even better was that Kagome had modified him to be able to memorize information with a photographic memory, and had the ability to use telepathy with her. That made Inpei the ultimate information-seeker.

'_**Go out among these Genin and find the ones that look like they know what they are doing. DO NOT COPY FROM THE BOY BESIDE ME. Once you have done that, show me the answers**_,' Kagome told Inpei.

The chameleon gave a silent acknowledgement and faded, blending in with his environment. Kagome felt him leave and knew he would be back very quickly. Inpei had the advantage of being fast as well.

-o-o-o-

Sasuke was still staring into Naruto's back.

'_If this exam is to determine one's information gathering skills, there must be someone here who has the answers!_' he thought, glancing around.

-o-o-o-

Gaara had his hand over his test, and sand began to wrap around his arm. A little ways away, Kankurou watched this display.

'_Looks like Gaara's begun. I'm counting on you, Karasu (Crow)._'

-o-o-o-

Akamaru was perched on top of Kiba's head. He would sniff and look around, and then quietly yip the answers to the questions to Kiba. The Inuzuka boy wrote down what his ninken partner said.

"Yeah! Good boy, Akamaru. Next, problem four…"

-o-o-o-

The Oto nin, Dosu, was listening to the sound of the pencils around him.

'_Assuming from the rhythm, writing number, and stroke number… I see,_' he thought, before writing down an answer on his paper.

-o-o-o-

A strange fly sat on a desk, watching a random Genin jot down answers. The Genin noticed the fly and shooed it away. The fly flew away and landed on Shino's outstretched forefinger.

"Yoshi (good), now tell me," said Shino quietly.

The fly flew off his finger and began flying in figure-eight patterns over his paper.

"Eight," said Shino, and wrote down the answer.

-o-o-o-

Tenten was using adjustable mirrors attached to the ceiling by tiny strings to see Shino's paper.

'_**Lee, if you see this, put your hitai-ite on,**_' Tenten told Lee telepathically. (4)

She adjusted the mirror to an angle where Lee could see Shino's answers. Lee glanced at the ceiling and did as he was told.

-o-o-o-

Inpei returned with the information, and Kagome began scribbling down the answers, careful to not use answers that were all on the same test. That made it less easy to trace where she got the information from.

She glanced at Naruto, and thought, '_I think it's time to give him the answers. He looks like he's about to explode_.'

-o-o-o-

Naruto had his head on his desk with his hands on top of it. He looked really angry and anxious, his teeth gritted together in an ape grimace.

'_Time is running out. Crap, cheating is the only way now…! Demo, if I get caught, it's going to cause trouble to Sakura-chan and Sasuke. But if I get a zero, Sakura-chan and Sasuke will fail along with me…'_

'_**Naruto-kun,**_' said a voice inside his head.

Naruto froze.

"Ha?" he said quietly with confusion.

He recognized this voice! But why was it in his head?

'_Kagome-chan?_' he thought.

'_**Whew! I'm glad you knew who I was. Anyway, I wanted to give you the answers to the test,**_' said Kagome.

'_Doushite (why)? I'm not on your team. Is this some kind of trick?_' thought Naruto, narrowing his eyes.

'_**Iie. And I'm helping you because you're my friend. That's what friends do, right? Besides, you said you wanted to become Hokage. You can't become Hokage if you fail your test, now would you?**_' she said, amusement in her voice.

'_Un. But isn't this cheating?_' Naruto told her.

Kagome laughed in his mind, and suddenly an image appeared in his head. It was of the first problem.

'_**I'll give them to you one at a time. But copy them down quickly!**_'

Naruto did as he was told. Using the image that had appeared in his mind, he jotted down the answer as quickly as he could and made it legible. After that, Kagome gave him the next one. This pattern continued until he was almost done with the last problem.

Suddenly, a kunai came flying past him and hit the desk behind him. The boy sitting there cried out as the kunai landed and pinned his test to the wood of the desk underneath it. Gasps came from all around the room.

Naruto sat in shock.

'_Did one of them notice?_' he thought, shaking.

Kagome was silent, though Naruto could still feel her there. Meanwhile, the boy behind Naruto stood up.

"What is the meaning of this?" he yelled.

"You screwed up five times. You fail," said the examiner with the bandage across his nose, Hagane Kotetsu.

"What…?" said the Genin boy, his face terrified.

Kotetsu pointed at the boy and said, "Teammates of his, get out of here! Right now."

The boy's teammates stood, accepting their fate. They walked past the Genin boy, one of them glaring at him, the other looking pissed. The boy walked away from his desk. Suddenly, examiners began calling out numbers.

"Number twenty-three, fail."

"Number forty-three and twenty-seven, fail."

One boy had to be dragged out of the room screaming.

Another slammed his hand on his desk and yelled, "Hey, man, do you have any proof that I cheated five times? Are you all really able to watch over this many people?"

One of the examiners who had bandages wrapped around his head, whose name was Tobitake Tonbo, elbowed the boy in chest with enough force to pin him up against the wall.

"Listen up. We are Chuunin that were chosen for this exam. Elites, so to say. We won't miss a single thing you do. My strength is the proof," said Tonbo, letting the boy slide down the wall.

Naruto watched silently, shaking in his boots, or ninja sandals, rather.

'_**Naruto! Copy down the rest of the answer! Hayaku (hurry)!**_' said Kagome, causing Naruto to jump.

One of the examiners narrowed their eyes in his direction. Gulping, Naruto did as Kagome said and finished the problem.

'_**Yoshi (good). I'll be going now,**_' said Kagome.

'_Matte! Did you solve all these answers?_' asked Naruto.

'_**Iie. I cheated, just like the majority of everyone in here. Only the first one was solved by me. Ja ne (see you later)**_' Kagome said with amusement, before fading from his mind.

Naruto put his head down on his arms. And he didn't even get to thank her… He had never imagined her to be the cheating type, though.

-o-o-o-

Sakura was busy solving her problems as fast as she could, her pencil moving at what could have been a hundred miles an hour. (5)

-o-o-o-

Neji was looking at someone ahead of him, and then closed his eyes.

'_Byakugan ('white eye')!_' he thought, and opened his eyes; they now had veins popping out around them, and squiggly designs around where his pupil should have been, if he had had any.

He used this technique to look through the person in front of him to see their test paper.

-o-o-o-

Kagome had Inpei, who had been clinging to the base at the back of Naruto's neck, return and once more become dormant on her forearm. Then she used her chakra to slowly wrap the discarded bandages around her arm again, pretending like she was looking over her answers.

'_Hm. Looks like no one has tried to copy from me yet. Oh, well,_' she thought, bringing her newly wrapped arm up to scratch at behind her ear.

Unbeknownst to her, Ibiki had seen the whole thing.

-o-o-o-

'_Sharingan!_' thought Sasuke, the red Doujutsu appearing in his eyes as he watched the Genin in front of him.

'_I'm going to copy his every movement!_'

He watched the Genin write, and his hand began moving, writing what the other person was writing.

'_My hand is moving without hesitation. I got the right guy already_,' he thought, smirking and staring ahead.

-o-o-o-

'_Looks like Sakura is done_,' thought Ino with amusement, who was sitting a few seats behind the pink-haired kunoichi.

'_I acknowledge that your forehead's wideness and your intelligence are impressive, you know. That's why you should thank me for becoming the target of this technique,_' she thought, making a hand seal that looked like a hybrid between a 'Ne' ('rat') and 'Hitsuji' ('ram') seal.

'_Ninpou Shintenshi no Jutsu (Ninja Art: Mind Body Switch Technique)!_' thought Ino, forming a square with her thumbs and her forefingers, and thrusting it forward.

Sakura's body lurched forward, and Ino's head and arms dropped to her desk as if she had suddenly fallen asleep.

-o-o-o-

'_Ino must have used that jutsu_,' thought Shikamaru, glancing down the row at his 'fallen' teammate.

'_You can't go against that jutsu of Ino's,_' thought Chouji from his seat, also looking at his female teammate.

-o-o-o-

'Sakura' looked up and smirked.

'_Sakuraaa, I've slipped myself into your mind for a while,_' thought Ino in a singsong voice, whose mind was currently in Sakura's body, '_Saa (now), I need to remember the answers quickly._'

She lifted up the paper and began scanning the answers.

"Number fifty-nine, fail," said one of the examiners.

"Number thirty-three and nine, fail," said another.

-o-o-o-

'_That makes the thirteenth team that failed,_' thought Kabuto, watching the teams leave.

-o-o-o-

"Number forty-one, fail."

"Number thirty-five and sixty-two, fail."

"No way!" said a protesting Genin, and there was a sound of a punch, a yell, and a body hitting something.

Gaara moved his hand that was in a hand seal up towards his left eye.

'_That kid is going to do this thing calmly in this situation without even moving an eyebrow. He's good for a newcomer, and so is that girl next to him. She disguises her movements better than any newcomer I've ever seen,_' thought Ibiki, who had been watching Gaara. (6)

A ball of sand began forming in the palm of Gaara's hand, and then turned into an eyeball.

'_The eye nerves are now connected. Open the third eye,_' thought Gaara, two fingers still touching his closed left eye.

Then he smashed the eye by clenching his fist, and the sand that had made up the eye began floating in the air. The sand drifted over to a Genin and some of it went into his eyes.

'_Something got in my eye… Chikushou,_' thought the Genin, rubbing his eyes.

While the boy was distracted, the eye formed over his test and looked at the answers. Gaara began writing down what he saw.

-o-o-o-

"Sumimasen (excuse me)," said Kankurou, raising his hand.

"Nan da (what is it)?" asked one of the examiners sitting near him.

"I need to go to the bathroom," said Kankurou, smiling like a clown.

The examiner that had spoken got up and placed a pair of handcuffs attached to a rope onto Kankurou's hands.

"The rules say that we have to accompany you to the bathroom," said the examiner, and began leading Kankurou away.

"That makes sense," said Kankurou, still smiling.

Gaara watched his teammate get lead out.

-o-o-o-

In the bathroom, Kankurou was using one of the urinals.

"Those examiners aren't as bad as I thought. They don't even notice that there's one extra examiner," he said, despite the fact that one of them was holding his rope and standing behind a thin wall that shielded the urinals from view.

But the examiner's face had begun crumbling away at the left eye, revealing that the 'examiner' wasn't one at all.

-o-o-o-

Naruto was watching the clock.

'_Forty minutes have passed by already since the exam started. Twenty minutes left… I wonder what the question is that they're going to give at the forty-five minute interval…_' he thought with boredom.

-o-o-o-

Five minutes later, Ibiki smirked.

"Looks like we've already dropped the incompetent ones. I will now give the problem, since forty-five minutes have already passed," he said quietly.

Everyone looked expectantly at him.

"Yoshi (okay)! I will now give the tenth problem!" said Ibiki loudly.

'_Finally! I'll answer the problem anyway, since Kagome-chan's answers may not all be correct. After all, she did cheat from other people!_' thought Naruto determinedly.

'_Took you long enough,_' thought Sasuke from his seat.

'_Finally, the last problem,_' thought Sakura.

'_Hayaku (hurry) and come back, Kankurou. If the tenth problem is given, you can't help us out,_' thought Gaara's female teammate.

"Sou (yes), but before that, there's one thing I must say," began Ibiki, "there will be one special rule for this last question.

Just then, the back entrance to the exam room opened and Kankurou entered, followed by the 'examiner'. He looked surprised and Ibiki smirked. (7)

"You're lucky. Your puppet show didn't have to go to a waste," said Ibiki to Kankurou.

'_He knows about Karasu…!_' thought Kankurou with dread.

"Oh well, sit down," ordered Ibiki as if he didn't really care, which was probably true.

Kankurou went back to his seat, but as he passed his female teammate, he dropped a pill-sized, rolled-up piece of paper on her desk as subtly as possible. Then he sat down.

Ibiki stepped forward and said, "I will now explain. This is…a hopeless rule."

'_A hopeless rule?_' thought Naruto, gulping.

'_This guy isn't an ordinary Jounin. He acts like an interrogator,_' thought Kagome, studying Ibiki carefully.

"First, you are all going to choose if you wish to take this tenth problem or not."

'_Choose whether we're going to take it or not?_' thought Sasuke.

"Choose? So what happens if we don't take the tenth problem?" asked Kankurou's blonde teammate.

"If you choose not to take it, your points will be reduced to zero. In other words, you will fail. Your two other teammates will fail along with you," said Ibiki, who looked like he was really enjoying himself.

Exclaims and gasps broke out among the remaining Genin.

"What's the meaning of that? Of course we're going to choose to take it! Teammates also failing is bull!" said someone in the back.

"And here is the other rule," continued Ibiki.

'_There's more? Cut it out already…_' thought Sakura.

'_Here it comes. There's going to be some kind of catch. Taku (geez), this guy reminds me of sensei,_' thought Kagome, her eyebrow twitching.

"If you choose to take it and you get it wrong, you will lose the privilege to take the Chuunin exam forever."

Kagome's breath caught in her throat, and so did Naruto's.

"What kind of dumb rule is that? There should be those here who have taken the Chuunin exam in the past!" shouted an outraged Kiba, standing and pointing at Ibiki.

Akamaru barked his agreement from on top of Kiba's head.

Ibiki laughed – a bone chilling sound – and said, "You were unlucky. This year, _I _am the rule. That is why I gave you the option of quitting. Those who are not confident can choose not to take it, and take the exam next year, or the year after that."

Then he laughed again, and Kagome clenched her fists.

'_The teme (bastard)!_' she thought, glaring murderously up at him.

'_In other words, if one of the three people chooses not to take it, all three will fail. If someone chooses to take it, and fails to answer it correctly, that person will be a Genin forever. Either way, it's bad news. A normal person won't be able to choose which,_' thought Sakura.

"Let us begin. Those who will not be taking this tenth question, raise your hands. After we confirm your numbers, we will have you leave," said Ibiki, looking like a vulture hovering over a dying animal.

'_What kind of question is it…? Chikushou, if I get it wrong, I'm going to be a Genin forever! I don't want that! But if I choose not to take it, Sasuke and Sakura-chan will fail along with me, which I don't want either,_' thought Naruto, who was sweating profusely.

'_I won't raise my hand, because I am confident that I will get the problem right. Demo (but)… Demo, Naruto, you're different. You should just ignore us, raise your hand, and think about the next chance,_' thought Sakura, looking at the orange Genin.

'_I _know_ I can answer this question! Miroku should be fine, but what about InuYasha?_' thought Kagome, glancing at said teammate.

'_I want to quit, but Kagome's been wanting to take the Chuunin exam for a long time. I'll tough it out and make it through!_' thought InuYasha, gritting his teeth.

The Genin on Naruto's left raised his hand and stood.

"I… I… I quit! I won't take it!" said the Genin.

"Number fifty, fail," said the examiner of that row, who was Kamizuki Izumo, "number one hundred and thirty and one hundred and eleven, fail along with him."

"I'm sorry… Gennai, Inaho… Chikushou…" said the Genin that had quit, and his teammates stood.

"Me too!" said another Genin, and hands began to rise by the multitude.

'_Naruto! Why aren't you raising your hand? He… You always say "Hokage, Hokage" like a baka. I'm sorry, Naruto. It looks like I want to save your unrealistic dream,_' thought Sakura, and began to raise her hand.

But to hers, Sasuke's, Kagome's, and Hinata's surprise, he slowly raised a trembling hand high.

Then he slammed it down on his desk and cried, "Screw you! I'm not going to run away! I'll take this problem! Even if I become a Genin forever, I'm going to become a Hokage no matter what anyway!"

He stood and yelled, "I'm not scared!"

Then he sat back down in his desk and crossed his arms defiantly.

'_You had me worried there, Naruto-kun. I'm glad you didn't quit,_' thought Kagome, smiling behind her hand.

'_He wasn't even thinking about us… He has quite a spirit,_' thought Sasuke.

'_Yes, you were a baka,_' thought Sakura, who was smiling, as well.

"I will ask one more time. This is the choice that will impact your life. If you want to quit, now is the chance," repeated Ibiki.

"I'm not going to take back my words. That's my nindou (way of the ninja)," said Naruto defiantly.

'_Hm. Interesting gaki_._ He wiped out everyone's uncertainty,_' thought Ibiki.

He walked forward, thinking, '_Eighty-seven students, eh? There's more left than I expected. Looks like there's no point in waiting any longer._'

He glanced over at some of the examiners, and they nodded at him. He gave a nod back and turned to face the Genin again.

"Nice determination. Then…for the First Exam, everyone here…passes!" said Ibiki, and everything was quiet.

Naruto let his pencil fall from his hand as he said, "Huh?"

"Eh? Chotto (wait), what's the meaning of that? We pass already? What about the tenth question?" asked Sakura as she stood from her seat.

Ibiki chuckled and grinned.

"There was no such thing to begin with. Or you can call the two-choice question the tenth question," he said, still grinning like a maniac.

"Huh?" said Sakura.

"Chotto! So what were those previous nine problems? It was all a waste!" shouted the dark-blonde girl on Gaara's team.

"No, it's not. The nine problems accomplished their purpose. The purpose to test each individual's information gathering skills," said Ibiki.

"Information-gathering skills?" asked the blonde.

"First, this test's purpose lies in the first rule. Your pass-fail decision is based on your three-person teams. By giving that idea, we have given you an unprecedented amount of pressure to try and not be a nuisance to your team."

Naruto nodded his head, saying, "Yes, yes, I was kind of sensing that in this test."

Behind him, Sakura thought, '_Liar_', with menace.

Hinata giggled.

"But these test problems cannot be solved by you Genin. So most of the people here must have come to the conclusion 'I have to cheat to get points'. In other words, this exam assumed that everyone was going to cheat. So, we snuck in two Chuunin who knew the answers to be targets of cheating."

One of the Chuunin waved, and Naruto leapt up out of his seat, his hands at his cheeks.

'_Really?_' he thought.

"It took a while to find the guy," said someone.

"Yeah," said another, probably his teammate.

Naruto's ears twitched when he heard it, and he laughed nervously. He leaned back in his seat and put his hands in his trademark pose. (8)

"It was so obvious. It would be weird not to notice it. Ne (right), Hinata?" he said, turning to the Hyuuga girl.

Kagome sweatdropped and so did Sasuke.

'_He didn't notice it…_' they thought.

"But those who cheated like a fool failed, of course. Why?" said Ibiki, taking off his hitai-ite that covered his whole head.

Everyone gaped except a few.

"Information can have greater value than life at times, and in mission and battlefields, information is contested with the lives of people!"

His whole head was crisscrossed with numerous scars. Kagome was one of the few that didn't gape; she had been expecting it. He had scars on his face, and he had hidden his head from view; it hadn't taken very long to guess the reason why.

"How awful… Burn marks, screw holes, and cut marks… They're the scars of torture," said Sasuke quietly.

'_It looks like you and I have something in common, Ibiki-san,_' Kagome thought.

Naruto gulped.

"The information that an enemy gets after being noticed by a third person will not necessarily be accurate," continued Ibiki, retying his hitai-ite back onto his head, "Remember this. Getting incorrect information can cause great damage to your teammates and village. So, we made you all gather information in the form of cheating. We kicked out those who were lacking in that field. That's what went on."

"Demo, I still can't agree to that last question," said the female blonde Suna nin.

"But this tenth question was the main question of this First Exam," said Ibiki, spreading his arms out.

"Hm?" said several people, including Sakura and Naruto.

"What do you mean?" asked Sakura.

"Let me explain," said Ibiki, placing his hands back into the pockets of his trench coat.

"The tenth question was a 'take or not take' choice. Needless to say, it was a painful two-choice problem. Those who did not take it failed with their teams. If you chose to take it, and could not answer it…your right to take the exam would have been taken away forever. It was a very insincere problem."

Ibiki changed his spot in front of the classroom so that he was in the front of the middle aisle of desks.

"How about this two-choice problem? Let's say that you have become a Chuunin. Your mission is to capture a secret document. The number of enemy ninja, their abilities, and armaments are unknown. And there may be traps that the enemy ninja have set up. Now, will you accept this mission or not? Just because your life and the lives of your teammates may be in danger, are you able to avoid dangerous missions? The answer is…no.

"There are missions that carry heavy risks, but cannot be avoided. The ability to show your courage to your teammates when needed, and the ability to get through a bad situation… That is what we look for in a Chuunin, a squad leader. Those who cannot bet their fate in a critical situation… Those who give up when given the chance because there is a next year, and let their minds sway over an uncertain future… Fools who only carry a light determination like that have no right to become a Chuunin. That is what I believe.

"I'm saying that you here who have chosen to take it gave the right answer for the difficult tenth question. You can deal with the difficulties you will face. You have broken through the entrance. The First Exam of the Chuunin Selection ends now. I wish you luck," finished Ibiki, smiling.

"Yatta (yeah)! Wish us luck! Yatta! Yatta! Yay! Yay!" crowed Naruto, practically jumping up and down.

Ibiki chuckled and thought, '_What an interesting guy._'

Then he glanced over at the window, and its glass shattered as something came flying through it. Four kunai were pinned on the ceiling, and a black sheet blocked Ibiki from view.

"Nan da (what the)…?" said Naruto, his eyes as wide as saucers.

Sighing, Ibiki thought, '_Mataku (geez), she's…_'

"Everybody, there's no time to be happy! I am the Second Examiner, Mitarashi Anko!" declared the newcomer, spreading out her arm.

She wore a fishnet suit that left much to the imagination, a tan trench coat that only went to her knees, a darker tan miniskirt over the fishnet suit. Her ninja sandals had leather attachments in the front that were strapped around her thighs. Her hair was a dark greyish-black, and spiked in the back from her ponytail. In the front, her bangs framed her face. She had a fierce face with brown, pupil-less eyes. Her fingernails were purple.

The black sheet, from the view of the Geinin, said 'Second Examiner, Mitarashi Anko is Here' in big, white characters.

'_I like her,_' thought Kagome, smirking.

"Let's go to the next exam! Follow me!" yelled Mitarashi Anko, punching her fist into the air.

Everyone gaped, except Kagome, who was smiling. Naruto looked like a Tickle-Me Elmo with his eyes bugging out like they were.

"Grasp the atmosphere," said Ibiki, peeking out halfway from behind the black sheet and looking at her.

Anko was red and angry.

'_That examiner is like Naruto,_' thought Sakura, sweatdropping and her overly large forehead blue with exasperation.

Kagome was sitting in her seat, her eyes upside-down 'U's and her mouth a '3' laying on its side with the ends sticking up. She obviously liked this woman a _lot_.

"Eight-seven? Ibiki, you let twenty-nine teams pass? The First Exam must have been too soft!" complained Anko.

"It looks like there are a lot of excellent students this time," said Ibiki.

Anko huffed and said, "Oh, well… I'm going to make more than half of the teams fail in the next exam."

Sakura gasped and said, "Fail more than half?"

"I'm getting excited. I will explain the details tomorrow. We will go somewhere else, so ask your Jounin sensei-tachi (teachers) about the rally point and time. That is all. Dismissed."

-o-o-o-

After everyone had left, Ibiki began collecting the test papers. When he reached Naruto's desk, he was puzzled. All of the squares were filled out and seemed to be correct. Naruto hadn't hit Ibiki as being one to complete the test and get all the answers correct.

"Uzumaki Naruto, ka? Interesting that he got a one hundred. Someone must have given him the answers. He really is an interesting guy," said Ibiki to himself.

When he reached Kagome's desk, he immediately noticed the similarities between hers and Naruto's. Again, he was puzzled. Naruto had sat all the way near the front, yet she had sat near the back. He wondered how she had managed to give her answers to Naruto without anyone noticing. He spotted something on the back of her paper.

It was a note that read, 'Have a good night, Ibiki-san!' There was a smiley face next to it. Sweatdropping, Ibiki placed the paper with the others in his hand.

'_What an odd girl,_' he thought.

-o-o-o-

Teuchi and Ayame stared at the young girl who had come to their humble ramen stand called Ichiraku Ramen. She was a cute girl, with black hair tipped with iridescent silver-blue, and huge luminous blue eyes that you could lose yourself into. But the reason they were staring at her was because she had eaten eleven bowls of ramen and seemed hungry enough to eat eleven more.

"Another one, onegai!" said Kagome, smiling at Ayame.

"H-hai," said Ayame, dazed from glancing into Kagome's blue eyes.

As Kagome waited for her next bowl of pork ramen to be served, she heard a familiar voice.

"Ne (hey), ne, Kakashi-sensei! It was really nice of you to treat us to ramen!"

"Well, you three got through an exam that was held by Morino Ibiki. That's a feat that you deserve to be treated for," said another voice, one that to Kagome seemed elusively familiar.

"Oi! Kagome-chan!" said the first voice, a voice that belonged to Naruto.

Kagome turned to see Naruto, his two teammates, and Jounin sensei.

"Konbanwa (good evening), Naruto-kun!" said Kagome, raising a hand in greeting.

"I told you this place had the best ramen!" said Naruto, taking a seat beside her.

"Hai, it does! I can't stop eating it!" said Kagome, jerking her thumb towards her stack of bowls.

Naruto peered around her and blinked. He never knew a girl could eat so much! Weren't girls supposed to be worried about their weight?

"Ano…Kagome-chan? Won't you gain weight if you eat so much?" asked Naruto.

Grinning and rubbing the back of her neck, Kagome said, "Actually, I've never been able to gain enough weight. No matter how much I eat, I'm always hungry. That's why I'm called 'The Bottomless Pit' back home!"

Ayame handed Kagome her twelfth bowl of ramen, and Kagome thanked her. Before digging in Kagome, paused.

"Oops! Konbanwa, Kakashi-san, Sakura-san, Sasuke-san!" said Kagome, waving at them in greeting.

Kakashi noticed that her bruise from earlier was almost completely gone.

Kagome turned back to her food and began vacuuming it down as fast as before. Kakashi and the others took seats beside Naruto, keeping the blonde between them and the Tsukigakure girl.

"Oi, beef ramen wo kudasai (I would like beef ramen)," said Naruto.

"Pork ramen wo kudasai," said Sakura politely.

"Hn. The same as the dobe (dead-last)," said Sasuke.

"I'm fine. I've already eaten," said Kakashi.

"Okay! We'll have your orders ready soon!" said Ayame, and bustled off.

Everything was quiet, except for the sound of Kagome slurping down noodles. She sounded remarkably like Naruto when he ate. Then Naruto spoke.

"Kagome-chan? What happened to your teammates?" he asked.

Kagome swallowed and said, "They ditched me. They always do that when we're not doing missions. They're both older than me, so I don't really blame them."

"Your teammates are older than you?" piped up Sakura, who, despite not liking Kagome much at the moment, found herself curious about the strange girl.

"Hai. InuYasha is two years older than me; he's fifteen. And Miroku is sixteen," said Kagome.

She leaned forward and peered at Sasuke and Kakashi, both of whom were not saying anything. Sasuke looked almost like he was asleep, and Kakashi had his nose buried in his favorite novel.

"They don't say much, do they?" said Kagome, jerking her thumb towards them.

"Ara (huh)? Kakashi-sensei and Sasuke-teme? Iie, Sasuke-teme stands around trying to look cool and sensei just reads that gross book of his," said Naruto, and Kagome peered at the book and gave out an exclamation.

"Icha Icha Paradise? You read those perverted novels?" she said, pointing at Kakashi.

"Hm? So you've heard of it?" said Kakashi, looking up.

"Heard of it! My tou-san ('father', 'dad') reads that! One time he left one hanging around, and I was curious about what it was, so I looked in it…" Kagome trailed off, looking green about the gills.

"Well, there is a sign on the book cover that says that no one under eighteen should read these," said Kakashi, his eye an upside down 'U'.

"That made me want to see what it was even more… And Miroku's not eighteen," grumbled Kagome, looking away with a red face.

"Here you go!" said Ayame, arriving with Team Seven's ramen.

"Ramen! Ramen! Ramen!" said Naruto excitedly as she placed his bowl on the counter.

He broke apart his chopsticks and said "Itadakimasu!" before vacuuming down his ramen.

Sakura and Sasuke began eating their ramen also, though much slower than Naruto. By the time they were halfway through their meal, Naruto had finished off five, and Kagome, who had started eating again, was on her twentieth.

Naruto's eyes noticed the long wooden box on Kagome's back and also the quiver with the bow tucked inside it.

"Ne, Kagome-chan? What's that box? And why do you have a bow and arrows?" he asked.

Kagome paused and looked at him.

"This?" she asked, touching the box, and Naruto nodded.

"Here! I'll show you!" she said, and began lifting up the box's strap over her head.

She set the box down with an audible 'thump!' and Naruto wondered how heavy it was. Kagome knelt down and began unlatching the catches that held locked the box lid down, and then opened the lip.

"Taa-daa!" said Kagome, turning the box around so that Naruto could see the interior.

Naruto almost face-faulted. He had been expecting some kind of weapon, maybe a storage place for scrolls, but certainly not _this_. Whatever_ this_ was. It appeared to be some kind of instrument, but Naruto couldn't be sure, since he hadn't see very many instruments in his lifetime.

The 'instrument', from what he could see, had a long neck, and at the top were two pegs. At the bottom was a small box covered with some kind of snakeskin. Two strings were attached to the pegs and went all the way down to the box. A small loop of string was placed around the neck and strings and acted as a support for the strings towards the top of the neck. The loops of string pulled the other strings toward the snakeskin, and held a small bridge made of wood in place. Next to it was what appeared to be a violin bow, but a little bit different.

"Ha?" said Naruto in confusion.

Kagome laughed and said, "I figured you wouldn't know what it was. After all, it's mostly played on the Continent, and I found this one in the trash."

Sasuke's eyebrows twitched. _This girl had dug something out of the trash?_

"What is it?" asked Naruto.

Kagome picked up the strange object and placed it on her left thigh. It was a lot taller than her.

"This…" she said, adjusting it, "is an erhu." (9)

"A what?" said Sakura, who was watching now.

"An erhu," Kagome repeated.

Naruto and Sakura gaped stupidly, and Sasuke was watching out of the corner of his eye. Kakashi was listening, though no one could guess.

"Here, I'll play it for you! I had to teach myself, so I don't know any real songs," admitted Kagome sheepishly.

Again, she adjusted the erhu and held it in an underhand grip with her left hand. She picked up the bow and placed it between the two strings. Kagome pushed the bow away from the main body, and a strange sound emitted from the instrument.

"Wah!" said Naruto, jumping up and pointing at the instrument.

"It's only sound, Naruto-kun. At least, sound that won't harm you," said Kagome, and Kakashi turned at this.

Naruto hesitantly sat back down and waited for her to begin again. Kagome again pushed the bow away from the body of the instrument, bowing the outside string of the instrument away. And again, the strange noise emitted from the instrument. Naruto couldn't describe it; he had heard a violin before, and this instrument had the same sound to it, except that it was also different.

Kagome began playing the song she had made up when she had spent many hours alone in the world. It had been risky to play this instrument to where others could hear her, but Kagome had risked it in order to hear the beautiful sound of it.

_***Flashback***_

_Five-and-a-half year-old Kagome was wandering the streets of some unknown village, to her, at least, in Mizu no Kuni. It was dark outside, and her feet were cold. She had made makeshift sandals of cloth, and those were swiftly falling apart, just like the cotton yukata she wore. _

_She dodged through the streets like a thief, which she was, when it came to food or other necessities. But now she was looking for a place to hide for the night, hide and sleep. She didn't want anyone to find her. For some reason, anyone who saw her was hostile towards her, though at first she couldn't imagine why. _

_But as she got older, she learned to avoid these people, and hate them. They hated her, so why shouldn't she hate them right back? Besides, Kagome was no longer the little girl who had woken up drenched in blood, not even remembering her name. She had remembered that, at least, but nothing else. And Kagome had learned to kill._

_She kept her weapons close. Like the rogue ninja she came across and killed, she strapped her kunai pouch to her the back of her hip, and stored both kunai and shuriken in there. But now that she had her new Doujutsu, Kagome only used these when it was necessary. Her Doujutsu had taught her many of the powers that were called 'jutsu', and she was eager to learn more._

_Slipping down an alley, Kagome spotted an overturned trashcan. Maybe she could hide behind that for a while. Cautiously, she approached it, and glanced at the spilled contents. She didn't see anything that caught her eye, and then did a double take. Even in the dark, she could see the strange object lying there._

_Glancing around to make sure the coast was clear, Kagome kneeled down next to the object. It seemed to be an instrument, but as to what kind, Kagome had no idea. There seemed to be two parts. A long-necked part with a sound box, and a stick made of bamboo with horsehair strung on it. Picking up the object, Kagome found a secluded corner out of sight and examined the object further._

_Both pieces were strung with horsehair, she noted. She wondered how it worked. If it was a stringed instrument, the bow should be used to cause friction against the other horsehair, shouldn't it? Cautiously, Kagome tried rubbing the horsehair of the bow against the other string. But nothing happened. No sound, nothing. Kagome tried again, with the same results. And a third time. Frustrated, Kagome tried a fourth time, this time placing the bow between the two strings. She pulled the bow, and, to her surprise, a sharp sound emitted from the instrument._

_Startled, she dropped both and looked around to see if anyone had come to investigate the sound. When she heard no one was coming, she picked up the instrument again. This time, she was prepared when the sound came from it. But it seemed off-tune, so she tightened the pegs on the top of it. She had heard that with stringed instruments, the pegs were used to keep the instrument in tune._

_She had to use the pegs a couple of times before she found the sound acceptable. To her surprise, she found the sound very soothing. For over an hour, she experimented with the instrument, despite the fact that it was freezing outside and that her breath was coming out in the air as a mist. She found that by pulling the outside string, she could play better when the bow was pushed outwards, and pulling the inside string when the bow came back in._

_Kagome soon forgot about the world around her, forgetting that she was just a street orphan that had to kill to survive. All that mattered was the strange sound that the foreign instrument emitted, and it made her relax for once. Eventually, the sound caused her eyelids to droop, and she curled up in a corner, hugging the instrument to her chest._

-o-o-o-

_The next morning, Kagome woke when it was still dark, and froze when she found she was holding something to herself. She glanced down and saw the instrument. Memories of the previous night entered her mind, and she breathed a sigh of relief. It was lighter out now, and she could see that the instrument was a little battered. _

'Who could have thrown away such a beautiful instrument?_' she wondered, and realized something._

_She wanted it. She wanted to learn how to play it, and compose songs on it. But she couldn't carry it around with her, could she?_

_Determined to keep the instrument, she looked around in the debris that the knocked-over trashcan had littered on the ground. Pieces of ripped sheets caught her eye. She grabbed a large strip of one and saw that it was feasible for the idea she had in mind. Carefully, she wrapped up the instrument and its bow in the sheet, manipulating the sheet so that the entire instrument was covered. Then she grabbed a ripped up towel and used a kunai to cut it into little strips that weren't too full of holes. She tied them together, tied the ends to the sheet by carefully cutting holes in it, and slung the newly-made strap over her shoulder._

_To her relief, the strap held. She would probably have to find a better case for the instrument, and it would also be a bit bulky when she fought rogue ninja, but that was trivial to her. All she wanted was the instrument. Finally, she had something of her own that she hadn't officially stolen._

_***End Flashback***_

Kagome's eyes were clouded over as she played on the instrument, her fingers working the strings. She was remembering her life before she had met Sesshoumaru, InuYasha, her new tou-san… And as she remembered, the melody she played became lower and sadder.

Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura were enraptured with the music. Kakashi had actually put down his Icha Icha Paradise book to listen, and Teuchi, plus Ayame, had paused in their work to listen as well. Even passersby paused and peered inside, curious about the strange noise coming from Ichiraku Ramen.

"Maa (well), maa, I see that my little doppelganger has made herself some friends. How kawaii," said a jeering voice sarcastically.

"Go away, Kikyou," said Kagome, her music coming to an abrupt halt, much to everyone else's dismay.

Angry, Naruto turned to face the newcomers, and saw a trio of ninja that wore the same emblem on their hitai-ite as Kagome. One was a boy with tanned skin and his obsidian hair back in a long braid. His eyes were dark grey. On his forehead was a purple four-pointed star. He was handsome, and carried a 'bad boy' look about him

.

He wore white sashinuki hakama that were tucked into his ninja sandals. His top was a white keiko-gi decorated with indigo designs that resembled feathers. Securing his keiko-gi was a red obi. His hitai-ite was around his neck. And strapped to his back was a huge sword. Naruto hadn't seen a sword that big since he had encountered Momichi Zabuza.

The next boy had sky-blue eyes, and his black hair was tied back samurai-style. Like the other boy, he skin was tanned. His hitai-ite was tied securely on his forehead. He wore black shorts that came halfway to his knees, and a long black tank top secured in place by a black obi (sash). A katana with a red grip rode on his hip in its saya (sheath). (10) On his left arm was a black arm muffler, but on his other he wore a simple bracelet made of the same material. This guy looked like a bad boy, as well.

The last was the person who had spoken, a girl around fifteen or sixteen, the same age as the other two. She had pale skin, and long black hair that hung down from a ponytail that went past her butt. Two loops of hair hung from in front of her ears and were loosely joined with the ponytail, which was tied back with a white ribbon. She wore a long flowing china dress that had long, close-fitting sleeves. The dress was white on top and became red at her waist. Her hitai-ite was tied tightly around her waist. But the most astonishing thing about this girl was that she looked like an older version of Kagome, except that this girl had cold brown eyes as opposed to Kagome's lively blue ones.

"You know, you would be much better off playing that out on the streets and earning money there. Since you're such a pathetic kunoichi, that is," said 'Kikyou', smirking.

"I've done that already, arigatou," said Kagome flatly, her eyes cold as she looked at Kikyou.

"C'mon, Kikyou. Leave her alone," said the boy with the grey eyes, looking disinterested.

"Well, I wouldn't expect less from a gaki off the streets. I heard that they would do _anything_ to survive. I bet she ate out of trashcans before the Tsukikage found her," said Kikyou, her tone mocking.

Naruto was bewildered by what was going on, but he did know one thing. Kagome had lived on the streets at one point. Did that mean she was an orphan? The same thoughts were running in Sasuke's mind as well.

Kagome stood, and leaned the erhu carefully against the counter. Then she walked up to Kikyou, her eyes shadowed by her bangs. Kikyou tensed. Then Kagome looked up into the face of the older girl and smiled, her face beaming as if that day was a holiday she liked. Kikyou backed up a space.

"Kikyou-san, have you ever eaten raw squirrel?" said Kagome sweetly, still smiling.

Kikyou held her ground this time, but was currently sweating.

"Once I learned how to use a kunai, I could hunt _all_ the squirrels I wanted. It was hard to make a fire in the wet weather, so I had to eat 'em uncooked," said Kagome, grinning like a maniac.

Kikyou had turned an unsightly shade of green, and Team Seven didn't know whether to believe Kagome or not.

"You know what's the best part of a squirrel?" said Kagome in a high whisper, leaning forward, "Its heart. It tastes kind of like those candies that you love so much back home, Kikyou-san."

The older girl looked like she was going to be sick, and Sakura did as well. Naruto looked a cross between disbelief and disgust, and even Sasuke and Kakashi looked doubtful.

"Y-you're a savage," Kikyou said, trying to hold in the contents of her stomach.

"Maybe, but savages know how to hunt," said Kagome, and suddenly, she struck at Kikyou.

In a speed that lightning would have envied, she touched the top of Kikyou's biceps and the top of her hamstrings in her legs. Kagome used both of her forefingers to force spiritual energy into the tenketsu located in the spots where she had touched. Chakra would have had a nastier effect, but this one would be more amusing and humiliating. Although she couldn't actually see the tenketsu, she could sense them with her miko abilities.

Kikyou froze. What had the girl done to her? She looked at Kagome, who was still grinning from her previous location, but nothing _seemed_ different… Suddenly, she felt a numbing sensation spread into her arms and legs, and she collapsed.

"It feels nice, ne? Don't worry, the numbness will clear away in a couple of hours, but for the time being, your two options is to either lie there for two hours, or have Bankotsu-kun here carry you back to your quarters," said Kagome, squatting down next to Kikyou and grinning like there was no tomorrow.

Kikyou growled and tried to reach up with her hand to throttle the young girl, but found that her hand had gone numb as well.

"Unlike chakra, reiki spreads through the keirakukei like a disease. So your feet and hands should be numb now," Kagome explained.

The younger girl stood and dusted her hands off.

"Well, Bankotsu, you know what to do," she said, and the older boy with the grey eyes gave a mischievous smirk.

He swooped down and picked up Kikyou, slinging her over his shoulder like a sack of grain.

"Oi! Put me down!" cried Kikyou.

"No can do. Sensei's waiting," said Bankotsu, turning to walk away.

"At least carry me like I'm a lady!" yelled Kikyou.

Kagome began laughing.

"You? A lady? If you're a lady, then I'm Miroku in disguise! And Miroku sucks at henge (transformation) jutsu," said Kagome, and pulled down her eyelid, sticking her tongue out at Kikyou.

"Shizei Bankotsu! I demand that you put me down! Kouga, you mongrel! Don't just stand there!" shouted Kikyou as she was carried further and further away.

Kagome turned back towards Ichiraku's and saw the expressions on the faces of the people inside. She laughed nervously and rubbed the back of her neck.

"Wari (informal 'sorry'), wari! I haven't actually eaten raw squirrel before! I made that up to distract her. Plus, she'll never eat chocolate again!" she said, smiling.

Naruto and Sakura looked like they were about to fall over anime-style, Sasuke 'hmphed' and looked away, Kakashi sweatdropped, and Teuchi and Ayame looked very relieved.

With a jolt, Kagome realized that she was standing alone with Ookamigi Kouga.

'_Kuso. I'm in trouble,_' she thought, and turned to face the music.

Kouga, in all his roguish handsomeness, grinned at her and grabbed her hands. He held her own petite digits in his own, his hands a lot larger. Kagome sweatdropped and braced herself for what was about to come.

"How's my onna (woman), huh?" said Kouga, smiling at her affectionately.

"ONNA?" shouted Naruto and Sakura, while Sasuke looked away with disinterest and Kakashi raised an eyebrow.

"Kouga-kun, for the last time…" began Kagome, smiling with an eyebrow twitching.

"…I AM NOT YOUR ONNA!" she roared, retrieving her hands and pointing her finger at him angrily.

"You're just saying that because there are all of these people around," said Kouga playfully, smirking all the while.

Kagome turned bright red. Putting her hands on her hips, she growled at him. Was he an idiot or something? Oh yeah, he was, wasn't he?

"Are you some kind of sick pedophile?" shouted Naruto, pointing at Kouga as well.

Kouga frowned and turned towards the younger boy's voice.

"How dare you accuse me in such a way! I am perfectly willing to wait for Kagome-chan to come of age. But until then," said Kouga, turning back to Kagome, "I am allowed to court her. Her otou-san (father) has given me permission!"

"Hmph, you make it sound as if she were a daimyou's (feudal lord's) daughter or something," said Sasuke coolly.

Before Kagome could stop him, Kouga opened up his mouth and spoke the words she didn't want anyone to hear.

"That's because she is. She's the Tsukikage's daughter," said Kouga proudly.

"Nani?" said Naruto, turning new eyes upon his friend.

"Baka yarou (you fool)! I don't have any _real_ status! I'm adopted! So don't just throw that around, teme!" shouted Kagome, dealing Kouga kicks to the legs that he dodged.

"Demo…it's true…" whined Kouga.

"I don't care! Now go away and leave us alone, you twit!" shouted Kagome, reaching behind her to grasp the hilt of the katana on her back.

Kouga saw this and broke out in a sweat.

"Okay, I'm going!" he said, and ran away desperately, leaping over the rooftops.

Kagome sensed amusement behind her and turned around as if she were something mechanical. Her eyes landed on Naruto's sensei, whose visible eye was in an upside down 'U' shape.

"What are you smiling at!" said Kagome, pointing at him accusingly.

"Who says I am?" asked Kakashi.

"Oh, please! Even with that mask on, anyone with the right training can tell that you're smiling! Your cheeks are lifting up underneath it!" cried Kagome, stomping back over to Naruto.

She carefully began packing her erhu back up, muttering something about 'stupid Kouga and his big mouth'. Everyone was quiet, and then Naruto spoke up.

"Ano ne (um), Kagome-chan, are you like a hime (princess) or something?"

Kagome froze.

"Naruto-kun," she said in a sweet voice.

Naruto immediately panicked on the inside, recognizing the tone of voice she was using.

"I don't want you ever calling me a hime or a nobleman's daughter, or something like that, ne? I'm adopted, remember?" she said.

She finished putting up the erhu and slung its case onto her back. Then she bent down and fished her worn-down wallet out of her back pocket, taking out several bills of money. She placed the correct amount on the counter.

"Arigatou gozaimasu, Teuchi-san, Ayame-san," said Kagome, and bowed; she had asked them their names earlier.

"Ja ne, minna-san (everyone)!" said Kagome, waving at Team Seven and their sensei and smiling.

"Chotto matte! Does that mean you're an orphan?" Naruto called after her as she began to leave.

Kagome stopped and said, without looking at them, "I suppose so. I can't remember."

'_She can't remember?_' thought everyone else.

"Oi, gaki! There you are!" came InuYasha's voice.

Her teammate appeared marching up the street, his face set in its usual scowl. He seemed even grumpier than usual.

"What's the matter with you?" growled Kagome, her mood fouling at the sight of him.

"I got chewed out by the Oh-So-Mighty Teme-sama! Now, come on! Miroku and him are waiting!" grouched InuYasha, folding his arms.

Kagome gave one last wave and left with her teammate, the two bickering as they made their way down the street.

"How could you be friends with such a girl? She's a weirdo!" Sakura yelled at Naruto.

"She's not weird! At least she agrees with me on things!" Naruto protested.

"That makes her even weirder!" screeched Sakura, but then Sasuke spoke.

"Sakura, urusai. Don't speak of things you don't know about," said the Uchiha.

Kakashi wasn't paying attention. He was thinking about that strange girl, Higurashi Kagome. She had used something called 'reiki' to numb the other Tsukigakure girl's legs and arms. And she had known exactly where the tenketsu were located, even without a Doujutsu like the Byakugan.

'_I need to look up what reiki is. And know that I think about it, the name "Higurashi" sounds familiar, but I can't think where I heard it… I have feeling that that innocent exterior is a camouflage… From what I heard from this afternoon, she sent an Otogakure shinobi flying with one punch. She's not a pushover, despite how she looks,_' thought Kakashi.

He was determined to unravel the mystery that came in the form of the young girl that had befriended his knuckleheaded student.

-o-o-o-

"You were satisfactory today, Kagome. But you need to keep that up if you want to become a Chuunin," said Sesshoumaru.

"Hai," said Kagome, bowing.

Miroku had done well on the test, it seemed, when it came to gathering information. He had only gotten caught once. But InuYasha had come close to getting them thrown out, and that pissed Kagome off.

"Hora! Hora! What were you thinking, baka yarou! You could have just contacted me through the chakra link in our rings!" Kagome had shouted at him when she had heard this.

Then she had shouted out 'osuwari' ('sit') several times, which was the command that activated the rosary around his neck. It had glowed and InuYasha was slammed into the ground repeatedly by an unseen force. Kaede-sama had given Kagome the rosary to control InuYasha's hotheadedness on this trip so that he didn't do anything rash.

Kagome had been so happy with this new toy that at first she'd say 'osuwari' just to see her adopted brother plummet into the ground. And InuYasha had developed a mild case of paranoia, because Kagome had had fun appearing out of nowhere just to do this before disappearing again. Sesshoumaru had reprimanded her, though Kagome had seen that he had been amused by her antics as well.

She was so caught up with thinking back that her eyes slid closed, and she fell asleep right where she was standing.

"Ano, Kagome-sama?" said Miroku, when she didn't respond to InuYasha's complaining.

"Nan da! She's asleep!" cried InuYasha when he peered at her face.

"Standing up…" said Miroku, sweatdropping. (11)

_**Owari**_

-o-o-o-

**Omake: After the 'Squirrel Talk'**

Kikyou was tired. She had finally got the feeling back into her body, albeit a bit stiff. Bankotsu had brought her back to where they were staying for the exam, and her sensei had not been pleased that she had let a girl three years her junior get the best of her. But she was the heiress to the Hanagami clan; shouldn't she get a little slack?

She reached into her bag and absentmindedly pulled out one of her favorite chocolates. Her mother had packed them for her, knowing that she liked them. She unwrapped the chocolate from its tinfoil wrapping, and then brought it near her mouth. Then she froze as the Higurashi brat's words from earlier came back to her.

'_You know what's the best part of a squirrel? Its heart. It tastes kind of like those candies that you love so much back home, Kikyou-san._'

Bile rose in the back of her throat, and Kikyou hurriedly put the chocolate back down. She felt sick now whenever she looked at the piece of chocolate. She kept imagining what a squirrel's heart looked like when she did. Damn gaki.

-o-o-o-

**Vocabulary**

Itadakimasu – roughly translates as 'let's eat' or 'I will receive'

Tenketsu – 'pressure points'; little holes in the keirakukei where chakra can be released

**Author Notes**

(1) You'd think he'd have run out by now, at the rate he's going… -_-;

(2) O.O …did he steal it? Doesn't he know that 'piracy is stealing'? LOL

(3) Her Japanese seiyuu (voice actor) sounds like a little kid because of her high voice. It's frickin' hilarious!

(4) What else could it be?

(5) -_-;

(6) Gaara doesn't even _have_ eyebrows! Of course he wouldn't move them!

(7) What happened to the rope and handcuffs, I wonder?

(8) Guess where? ;3

(9) If you don't know what an erhu is and what it sounds like, just look up 'erhu' on Youtube. I think it sounds really pretty

(10) Kouga never actually uses that katana in the anime. It's all for show! LOL :D

(11) I think it's safe to assume that Kagome fell over at some point after this. It is, after all, impossible to fall asleep standing up because your muscles relax when you go to sleep.

-o-o-o-

***pant* *pant*** That took a while… Kagome was in this chapter a bit more. Yippee! For the record, Ookamigi means 'wolf tree', Hanagami means 'flower god', and Shizei means 'purple star'.

I gave 'Ookamigi' to Kouga because he was a ookami youkai (wolf demon) in the anime, and wolves live in forests (mostly). I gave 'Hanagami' to Kikyou because her name means 'Chinese bellflower'. And I gave 'Shizei' to Bankotsu because of the marking on his forehead, kinda lame. Shizei can also be translated as 'death star' and that makes me think of Star Wars… (-_-;)

Ja ne!


	5. Chapter IV: Forest Part I

Another chapter in one day! I just luv reading all the reviews! Someone said that Kagome should reveal to Naruto that she was a Jinchuuriki in this chapter. Sorry, but it's going to be a while before that happens. Please don't kill me. ^.^;

Disclaimer: Thankfully, the lawyers are leaving me alone for now, so I can safely say that I do own InuYasha and Naruto ***thunder cracks overhead*** Or not.

**Don't own subtitles or translations from the anime episodes either!**

"talking"

'_thinking_'

'**Bijuu talking to host**'

**Chapter Four: Forest (Part I)**

-o-o-o-

Bokura wa ima demo sagashiteru  
Kasoku shita SPEED wa kaerarenai  
Tsuyosa to kakugo tsunagitomete  
Hashiri-tsuzukenakereba mirai wa nai  
Tsukisusume tobira no mukou he

The two of us are searching all the time  
This accelerated speed can never go back  
Bind your strength and resolution together  
If we don't continue to run, there is no future  
So move forward, beyond the door

~ "Tobira no Mukou He" (Fullmetal Alchemist Ending Theme 2)  
Yellow Generation

-o-o-o-

A light breeze shook the trees of the forest that the Genin had gathered beside. A fence went around its whole perimeter, with a white sign that said 'Forbidden Area' in large red characters. The gate was chained shut and locked with a chakra seal tag. Several examiners watched and waited patiently in a large, shaded booth.

The Genin talked quietly among themselves, while some stared up at the forest's intimidating depths. The ones that talked among themselves had probably taken the exam before, and knew what they were up against.

"Nice forest," said a scowling Kagome, standing with her arms crossed.

Her bruise was completely gone.

InuYasha leaned down into her face and said teasingly, "Aww, is little Kagome afraid of the big bad forest?"

A tick mark appeared on her forehead at the word 'little' and a 'wham!' was heard. Several other people from different teams glanced over curiously at the noise, only to see a fuming Kagome, a sulking InuYasha with a large goose egg on his head, and a sweatdropping Miroku.

Meanwhile, Naruto and his teammates were also staring up at the forest.

"What is this place?" said Naruto, his electric-blue eyes wide.

"This is where the Second Exam will take place, the forty-fourth training area… Also known as Shi no Mori (Forest of Death)," said a smirking Mitarashi Anko to the gathered crowd of Genin.

"Shi no Mori?" asked Naruto, looking prepared for what was to come.

"Keh. What a depressing name," muttered InuYasha, his arms crossed in front of him.

(1)

Everyone watched as a bird landed on a branch on the edge of the forest, only to get snapped up by a huge snake.

"This sure is a creepy place," said Sakura, looking really nervous.

Anko chuckled and said, "You will be able to experience why this place is called Shi no Mori."

Snorting, Naruto mimicked, "'You will be able to experience why this place is called Shi no Mori.' There's no point in trying to scare us like that! I'm not scared at all!"

"Sou (really)? You sure are energetic," said Anko, cocking her head and smiling cutely.

Then she threw a kunai at Naruto, which cut him only slightly as it flew by his cheek. It cut a strand of hair off of a shinobi standing somewhere beyond him. Anko appeared behind the blonde-haired Genin in a flash.

"Boys like you die the fastest. After spilling out that red blood I love all over the place," she said, cupping his cheek (2) and touching the beads of blood that came out of his cut.

Then she turned, drawing out another kunai, when a long tongue presented her with the first one.

"Here's your kunai," said the ninja that had a strand of hair cut off; he was leaning over Anko's shoulder with his mouth open and his long tongue out. (3)

"Thank you," said Anko, while Naruto looked like he was freaking out.

"Demo ne (but), don't stand behind me like that. That is, unless you want to die young," said Anko, taking back her kunai.

The ninja's long tongue snapped back into his mouth, and he said, "Well, I get itchy when I see blood. Also, my precious hair was cut, so I got a little excited."

"Naruto-kun…" said Hinata quietly from the sidelines, worried for her crush.

"Sorry," said the long-tongued ninja, who turned and walked back to his teammates.

'_What's with that examiner? She's dangerous. And this guy is, too,_' thought Sakura as Long-Tongue brushed past her. (4)

'_Why does that guy have such a long tongue?_' thought Naruto, and stuck out his to see how long it would go.

Kagome was looking at Long-Tongue out of the corner of her eye, and inwardly shuddered.

'_Something is off about him… He smells gross, too,_' she thought.

"It looks like there are a lot of hot-headed people here today. This going to be interesting," said Anko, chuckling as she did so.

'_You're the most hot-headed person here,_' thought Naruto, turning to glare at her; he was holding the cut on his cheek.

"Before we begin the Second Exam, I'm going to pass these out to everyone," said Anko, walking back up to the fence.

She reached into her long coat and pulled out a stack of papers with writing all over them. Kagome noticed that the sign behind Anko said 'Warning. You may die.'

"These are consent forms. Those taking this exam must sign these."

"Nan de (why)?" asked Naruto.

"From here on, people will die. Therefore, we need people's consent before we continue. Otherwise, I'd be held responsible," said Anko, laughing.

After she was done laughing, she said, "Now, I will need to begin the explanation of the Second Exam. To be concise, you will all go through an extreme survival match."

She handed the consent forms to Naruto, who took one, then passed the stack on.

'_A survival match, eh? What a troublesome exam,_' thought Shikamaru as he got his form.

"First, I'll explain the training area's geographical features," began Anko, who showed them a map, "the forty-fourth training area is a circular region surrounded by forty-four locked gate entrances. There is a river, a forest, and a tower in the middle. The tower is approximately ten kilometers from the gates. Inside this limited space, you will have to go through a certain survival program.

Rolling up that map and reaching into her coat, Anko continued, "This program consists of…a competition where anything goes… Over these makimono (Japanese hand scroll(s))."

She held up two small scrolls.

"Makimono?" repeated Sasuke.

"Sou (yes). The Ten no Sho (Heaven Scroll) and Chi no Sho (Earth Scroll). You will fight over these makimono."

Everyone was silent, and a hawk cried in the sky.

"Twenty-nine teams in total passed the First Exam. Half of these teams will get the Ten no Sho. The other half will get the Chi no Sho. Each team will get one of these scrolls. Simply, you have to fight over these," said Anko, holding up the scrolls.

"And? What's needed to pass?" asked Sasuke.

"Bring the Ten no Sho and Chi no Sho to the tower with your teammates."

"In other words, the sixteen teams, or half the people here, that get their scroll stolen will fail," said Sakura.

'_Smart ass,_' thought Kagome.

"But it needs to be done within the time limit. This second exam has a limit of one hundred and twenty hours. Or exactly five days," said Anko as she stuffed the scrolls back into her coat.

"Five days?" said Ino.

"What about food?" cried Chouji.

"Scrounge it up yourself. The forest is a treasure box of nature; there should be plenty of food," said Anko, looking irritated.

"However," added Kabuto, "there are a lot of man-eating beasts, poison bugs, and poisonous plants."

"Oh no…" said Chouji dejectedly.

"Baka, that's why it's called survival!" said Ino.

"Also, it is not possible for sixteen teams, or forty-eight people, to pass," commented Neji.

"As time passes, you will be required to move more. So, the time to rest your body will become shorter. This seems quite rough," said Lee, looking delighted at the thought of a challenge.

"And we're surrounded by enemies. We won't be able to sleep in peace," said Sasuke.

InuYasha was eyeing Kagome nervously out of the corner of his eye. She was _not_ a morning person, and if she didn't get enough sleep… He almost shuddered at the thought. Though he'd never admit it, there were times that Kagome actually scared him.

"Maa (well), people will get hurt in the process of fighting over a makimono, and those who cannot bear this program's strictness will emerge, as well," said Anko.

Shikamaru raised his hand and said, "Ano, can we quit in between?"

Anko turned towards him with a little anger and said, "As a rule, you are not allowed to give up during the exam. You will spend the five days in the forest."

"Just as I thought. How troublesome," said Shikamaru.

"While we're on this topic, here are the conditions that will fail you. First, a team that cannot bring both scrolls to the tower with the three teammates will fail. Second, the team that loses a teammate or produces an unrecoverable teammate will fail. Also, just as a note, you are not allowed to look inside the scrolls until you reach the tower," explained Anko.

"What happens if you look?" asked Naruto curiously.

"That's a surprise you'll see when you look at it," said Anko gleefully, and Naruto deadpanned.

'_I bet something scary pops out,_' thought Kagome, sweatdropping a little.

"If you become a Chuunin, you will be handling top secret documents. It's to determine your reliability. That is it for the explanation. We will exchange three consent forms for one scroll at that hut," Anko pointed at the booth where the other examiners waited, "And after picking your gate entrance, everyone will begin at the same time."

Anko sighed, obviously bored, and continued, "Here's a last piece of advice: Don't die!"

Everyone split up then, some teams staying together, while other teams split up with individual members going off to sit alone, such as Uchiha Sasuke. Sasuke was leaning against a nearby boulder and watched as some of the examiners began drawing a red curtain across the entryway to the booth.

'_I see… So we don't know what type of scroll each team has and which of the three is carrying it. It's just like Ibiki said. In this exam, gathering information is done by putting your life on the line. Everyone is an enemy,_' he thought.

Just then, Kagome strolled by, her face in the paper she was reading. She stepped neatly over his outstretched legs.

"Sumimasen (excuse me)," she said absently, since she was probably not really paying attention.

'_Yare yare, I want to get started already. But iie, we have to read and sign these damn consent forms,_' she thought, and then paused.

InuYasha was making a big fuss over signing the forms, as well. Although he was all the way across the clearing, Kagome could hear him from where she was standing.

"…can't we just start already? Why to we have to sign these damn things! We're burning daylight!" he said loudly.

Suddenly pissed off, Kagome stomped over to him, Sasuke's eyes on her back.

"Oi! You!" she said.

"Keh! What do you want, gaki?" asked InuYasha imperiously.

Kagome grabbed him by the front of his shirt and jerked him downwards so that they were face-to-face.

"Listen here, yarou! If you had actually been paying attention, you would know why we're supposed to sign these! If you were serious about taking this exam, you wouldn't be complaining like a baka! Look around; no one else is making such a fuss! That's because they actually want to succeed at this and become somebody! Now if you want to take this exam, then shut the hell up and sign the damn form!" Kagome snarled into his face.

InuYasha looked shocked, and Miroku was speechless. Kagome was rarely _this_ angry. Several people were edging away from their team, afraid of being in the crossfire of Kagome's wrath. Kagome stomped away again, and InuYasha was quiet.

"Damn yarou. I need a pen," Kagome muttered as she walked past Sasuke again, who was actually gaping at her.

Anko had watched the exchange silently, and smirked.

'_Looks like she knows what at stake. Looks like the Uchiha knows as well, that everyone will have to kill each other if needed,_' she thought.

Kagome decided to walk around the perimeter of the forest. She liked to take walks on her own back home, in order to clear her head and sort things out. She had expected it to be quiet, but she came upon an interesting scene.

"Ugly!"

"Forehead!"

"Ugly! Ugly!"

"Forehead! Forehead!"

"Ugly! Ugly! Ugly!"

"Forehead! Forehead! Forehead!"

It appeared that Yamanaka Ino and Haruno Sakura were having some sort of argument. Ino's teammates, Nara Shikamaru and Akimichi Chouji, looked scared.

Walking up to them, she asked, "Ano, what's going on?"

Sakura and Ino froze at the sound of her voice. They both turned with killer expressions on their faces.

"You! Stay away from Sasuke-kun!" shouted Sakura, pointing at Kagome.

"Sasuke-kun?" said Kagome, her brows furrowing.

"Oh! You mean the guy that always stands like this!" she exclaimed, turning sideways with her head slightly lowered, hands in her pockets and eyes closed, and Ino and Sakura gaped.

They were both thinking, '_She looks almost like Sasuke! She could pass for a relative!_'

"J-just stay away from him!" said Ino, still perturbed at Kagome's appearance.

"Keh! He's not my type! I hate dark, brooding guys who think that they're higher than everyone else," said Kagome, smirking.

"I'm warning you! Sasuke-kun is mine!" said Sakura, and Ino turned to her again.

"Sakura! You can't get through this! Go home for your own sake! And Sasuke-kun will be mine!" shouted Ino angrily.

"Same to you! Sasuke-kun is mine!" shouted Sakura back, and they started staring at each other angrily.

Then they each turned away with a 'hmph!' and walked off in opposite directions. Shikamaru and Chouji looked scared again, and Kagome had an eyebrow raised.

"Ne, why do those two hate each other so much?" Chouji asked, turning to his friend.

"I don't know such a troublesome thing," said Shikamaru, looking away.

"Does anyone have a pen?" asked Kagome, and the other two looked at her as if she were crazy.

"Never mind! I'll go back and ask someone else!" said Kagome, rubbing the back of her neck nervously.

-o-o-o-

"Mataku (geez), why did they give us so much time to just write down our name?" Naruto muttered to himself.

He looked up and noticed Hinata standing by herself and leaning against the trunk of a tree.

"Oi, Hinata! What are you doing there?" asked Naruto, raising his hand in greeting.

Hinata looked up with a gasp, her eyes wide and her cheeks pink.

"Naruto-kun…" breathed Hinata.

"Eto…eto…ano," she stuttered, looking away and Naruto gave her a strange look.

'_She _is_ a weird girl,_' he thought, making a face.

Hinata glanced at Naruto and noticed the scratch on his cheek.

"A wound… Ano, here," said Hinata, presenting Naruto with a salve, but he walked past her.

"Ja ne," he said.

'_Naruto-kun…_' thought Hinata, looking down at the little container of salve in her hands.

"Boys can be _so_ dense sometimes," said a voice, making Hinata jump.

She looked up to see Kagome, who was standing nearby.

"Gomen, I didn't mean to startle you!" said Kagome worriedly.

"Ano, it's fine," said Hinata.

"You're Hinata-chan, ne? I was walking nearby and couldn't help but notice how dense Naruto-kun was being," said Kagome, coming up to Hinata with a friendly smile on her face.

Hinata flushed at Naruto's name and turned her face away to hide her red face. Kagome peered at her and sighed.

"Boys can be less observant than girls sometimes, Hinata-chan. He's bound to notice someday, when he's matured a little," said Kagome.

"Demo…! Watashi… (I…)" said Hinata, stuttering all the while.

"Hinata-chan, let's be friends. I like to hang around girls like you that are not rabid fangirls," said Kagome, smiling at Hinata.

"Okay… Friends…" said Hinata.

"We should hurry back now. I think it is almost time to start getting our makimono," said Kagome kindly, and Hinata nodded.

They began walking off, side by side.

"You know, I asked several people for a pen, and no one seemed to have one! Doesn't anyone know how handy a pen can be?" said Kagome in exasperation, and Hinata smiled.

-o-o-o-

One of the examiners behind the booth pulled back the red curtain and peeked out.

"It's time to trade your forms for a makimono," he said, before disappearing behind it again.

Teams began filing up and each disappeared behind the red curtain, only to appear again after they were done.

Anko smirked and thought, '_Now, how many teams will survive?_'

Kagome handed the examiners her team's consent forms, InuYasha and Miroku standing beside her. The examiners handed her a Chi no Sho.

"Who's goin' to get it?" asked InuYasha, and Kagome stuffed the scroll into her kunai pouch.

"Kami knows, I'm the most able," she said when she caught the looks on the other's faces; they couldn't argue with her there.

Anko glanced at the watch on her wrist and said loudly, "If you have received a makimono, follow the person in charge and move to your designated gates. We will begin in thirty minutes!"

Kagome's team was led to gate twenty-three, where they waited patiently. InuYasha complained a couple of times, but Kagome and Miroku looked ahead determinedly.

'_Survival, ka? I've done that for ten years now, when I was on the streets and when Sesshoumaru kept dumping me out in the wild. I wonder what kind of nasties are waiting for us in there?_' Kagome thought.

When the thirty minutes were up, the guards at each gate unlocked the padlocks.

Anko glanced at her watch again and said, "We will now begin the Chuunin Selection Second Exam!"

All of the gates were thrust open, and everyone went through. Some teams dashed in as fast as they could, while others walked through. Kagome's team was one of the ones that disappeared quickly, leaping out of sight into the forest.

"Are we going to split up, Kagome-sama?" asked Miroku.

"Sou. We'll have a wider range that way. Since we have these rings, we can contact each other if we get in a tight spot, and be able to find the one in trouble, as well," said Kagome.

"Are you sure you'll be able to protect that damn makimono?" asked InuYasha.

Pausing on a branch, Kagome jerked her thumb at herself and said, "What do you take me for? They don't call me Nishi no Tonbo for nothing! Remember, we're looking for the Ten no Sho! Ja ne!"

She took off to the left, leaving her companions in the dust. The other two glanced at each other, 'now what?' etched on their faces.

"Keh! You heard her! Though you're probably going to hide from every enemy you come across," said InuYasha, and Miroku smiled nervously, sweatdropping at the same time.

InuYasha leapt into the trees, and was soon gone from sight. Miroku sighed.

"I just don't like conflict. I hate getting stuck in a boring battle," muttered Miroku to himself, before leaving as well.

-o-o-o-

"Find the kids!" ordered Long-Tongue as he and his teammates dashed through the gate.

"Those three, right?" confirmed one of his teammates.

-o-o-o-

Naruto's team was one of the one's that walked through their gate instead of dashing through.

"All right, ikuzou (let's go)!" shouted Naruto excitedly, raising his fist in the air.

-o-o-o-

Hinata's team landed on the forest floor from the trees.

"Yoshi (okay), we're going to look for the thing we talked about first. Hinata, can you look for it?" asked Kiba.

Hinata nodded and made a seal with her hand to channel her chakra.

"Byakugan!" she said.

-o-o-o-

Rock Lee's team was jumping branch from branch in the canopy of the trees.

"Don't get so hasty, Lee. It has begun," advised Neji, since the green-clad shinobi was jumping ahead of his teammates.

"I know. Demo…I can't stay still when I think of the strong enemies that await us," said Lee.

Neji chuckled and said, "Hot-blooded baka."

-o-o-o-

"You two understand that our target is just one thing, right?" Dosu, the Oto nin wrapped up like a mummy, said.

His teammates said nothing.

-o-o-o-

Kagome looked up when she heard someone screaming. She chuckled.

'_Looks like someone already got caught,_' she mused to herself.

She sensed another team nearby. They seemed to be waiting for something. Reaching out with her senses, she recognized the aura of the nin she had punched. The colors in his aura indicated that he wanted revenge.

'_Oh? So you're waiting for me, are you? Well, I'll play,_' thought Kagome.

She jumped forward, and willingly placed herself into their trap. It was in a small clearing, though the light was still the same: dark green and dim. Even in the dim lighting, she could see the trip wires placed all around. She carefully cut each one with a chakra string, and waited.

"Maa, maa. Seems the gaki knows a thing or two," came a voice from the trees.

"Maybe she's worth our time," said another.

Kagome smirked and called, "And maybe you should come out of your hiding places. Or are you cowards?"

There was a short silence, and then a chuckle. Three Amegakure nin leapt out of the trees and landed a short distance from Kagome. The one that Kagome had punched still had a black eye, though he had obviously been treating it. It was not quite as swollen, as it ought to have been.

"You have guts, shoujo (girl), I'll give you that. But you were a fool to have messed with shinobi from Amegakure," said the leader, the one with the black eye.

"Sou ka? Well, I'm ready to play your little game," said Kagome, and grabbed the hilt of her katana.

She drew it out, the pale, smoky crystal on the end gleaming a little. Then dark tendrils of power began to revolve around the blade of the katana, turning into dark purple and then black again.

"N-nan desu ka (w-what is it)?" said one of the Amegakure nin, and took a step back.

"Hold your ground! It's just a katana!" said his leader, throwing out a hand to stop him.

"This is not _just_ a katana. This is Sou'unga ('Cluster of Clouds Fang' (?)), the Sword of Calamity," said Kagome, who began circling the katana in the air above her head.

The sword looked huge compared to her, yet she was able to wield it with very little difficulty. Pale, purple clouds began to form around a purplish-pink center above Kagome. The Amegakure ninja were backing away now.

"Sayonara," said Kagome quietly, and the other shinobi heard her.

They scrambled to get away, but it was too late.

"Goukuryuuha (Dragon Infernal Wave)!" shouted Kagome, slamming the sword's blade down into the ground.

-o-o-o-

InuYasha stopped on a branch when he heard a faint but familiar crunching, whistling sound that made him think of a stormy night. He cocked his head to pick up the direction of the sound. It was coming from his left a little ways, but it made him smirk.

He launched himself higher into the canopy until he reached the very tops of the trees. Tiny rays of sunlight poked through once in a while when a breeze moved the leaves. InuYasha poked his head through and was momentarily blinded. After being in the dim forest, the light of the sun was agony to his honey-colored eyes. He shook his head and blinked rapidly, then turned the direction he had heard the 'storm'.

A giant, pale-purple tornado was wrecking everything in its path. At the heart of it, a purplish-pink light shone through. Again, InuYasha smirked.

'_So, you already used that monster, ka? The unfortunate fools you met with must have not been worth your time,_' he thought, and then stuck his head back down into the forest.

He sat and kept still, in order to not be detected. He had to allow his night vision to come back before continuing on. His thoughts drifted to Kagome. Back home, she was notorious to being a sort of sadist when it came to battling. But she was only like that when confronted. When she was the one doing the confronting, she was clean and efficient. There was only one word for her; she was a pro. (5)

-o-o-o-

Miroku, who had also heard the sound of Kagome's tornado, slapped a hand to his forehead and dragged it down his face.

'_Already? Haven't you heard of being patient, Kagome-sama?_' he thought, and mentally kicked himself.

Kagome _was_ patient. She could sit in a tree for hours without even twitching, while waiting for enemy ninja to appear. As long as he had known her, whenever Kagome was doing her job, she was patient. Sometimes, Miroku wondered what sort of life she had lived before meeting the Tsukikage. He supposed it must have been a living hell.

-o-o-o-

"Spill it! Where's the real Naruto?" Sasuke demanded.

Naruto had gone to pee in the bushes, after Sakura had told him that he shouldn't in front of a 'lady'. When Naruto had finished and come back out of the bushes, Sasuke had immediately noticed that something was wrong, and proceeded to beat 'Naruto' up.

"What?" said Sakura; apparently, she hadn't noticed yet.

"I don't know what you're talking about!" said 'Naruto'.

"What happened to the wound on your face?" asked Sasuke.

'Naruto' looked stunned and found out. Sakura gasped.

"I'm asking you, what happened to the wound the examiner made on your face? Also, your shuriken holster is on your left leg. He's right-handed. You're even worse than Naruto at transforming. You fake loser," said Sasuke.

'Naruto' smirked and disappeared into a puff of smoke. When the smoke cleared, a shinobi from Amegakure (6) with some kind of cloth goggles and a breathing apparatus that covered his mouth appeared.

"How unlucky," he said, "I guess I have no choice since you found me out. Which one of you has the makimono?"

Sasuke shifted deeper into his defensive posture, his kunai held ready. Sakura took out one of her own and got in her defensive posture.

"If you give it up quietly, I'll spare your lives," offered the enemy shinobi.

Sasuke and Sakura stayed silent, watching the shinobi carefully.

When he didn't get a response, the Amegakure shinobi said, "Sou ka (I see). I have to use force now!"

He dashed at the other two. Sakura just stood there, while Sasuke jumped into the air to avoid the enemy ninja. He began making several hand seals.

With the last seal, he shouted, "Katon: Housenka no Jutsu (Fire Release: Phoenix Fire Technique)!"

He began spitting small fireballs at the Amegakure ninja, who deftly dodged his attacks. When that didn't work, the two met in the air and clashed kunai. The Amegakure ninja leapt away, Sasuke hot in pursuit. On the way, the Uchiha spotted Naruto wriggling around on the ground, tied up with ropes.

"Oi! Sasuke!" called Naruto, trying to get free.

'_Geez, you idiot!_' thought Sasuke, and threw a kunai that neatly sliced the ropes holding Naruto.

"Yoshi," said Naruto with relief.

"I see a weak spot, lucky for me!" crowed the Amegakure nin, and threw several kunai at Sasuke.

Sasuke ducked behind a branch, and the kunai embedded into it. He saw one of the kunai had a tag with ink characters written all over it.

"A kibaku fuda (exploding tag)!" said Sasuke, trying to get away.

The little bomb exploded, and Sasuke fell out of the tree. He managed to land on his knees and on one of his hands. He froze when he heard the enemy ninja appear behind him, kunai ready to attack.

"Lucky me. If you move, I'll kill you. Hand over the makimono quietly," said the ninja.

"Sasuke-kun!" gasped Sakura, who had taken forever to catch up with the Uchiha.

The enemy ninja glanced behind him at the noise, and Sasuke shifted, smirking. Just as a kunai that Naruto had thrown flew towards the ninja, a rumbling sound, resembling the breaking of branches and the whistling of wind, came up.

The enemy ninja jumped up as a giant tornado came roaring near them, then shrank and died away.

'_Where did _that_ come from?_' wondered Sasuke.

He took this chance to activate his Sharingan, and cause a kunai to stick to his foot with chakra. He kicked the kunai towards the enemy ninja, and it narrowly missed cutting them on the hip.

With that as a distraction, Sasuke jumped up and stabbed the ninja in the chest with a kunai. Specks of blood flecked onto his face.

"Sasuke-kun!" cried Sakura.

"Don't just stand there, Sakura! He may not be alone! Listen, if you let your guard down, you're going to really die!" shouted Sasuke, and then pushed himself away from the enemy ninja.

"This is unlucky. Coming alone turned out unfavorable for me," said the ninja, who fled. (7)

'_He ran away,_' thought Sasuke after landing on the ground.

-o-o-o-

'_Those fools didn't have the kind of scroll we needed. Oh well, I can also use it as a decoy. People looking for this one will most likely have the Ten no Sho,_' thought Kagome.

This time she was walking at ground level. Sometimes the ignorant left footprints or other signs that they had been there. So far, she had not been lucky at finding footprints, and smelling or hearing someone was definitely not working.

'_I wonder what InuYasha's doing. Probably hacking away at someone with that katana of his,_' thought Kagome, holding in a snicker.

-o-o-o-

InuYasha hated losing. And he was known to sulk and be temperamental for several days afterward if he did. But he also loved battles, and that was what he was doing at the moment.

They were from Konohagakure, these shinobi. They had figured out that he was alone, and thought he was fair game. Boy, were they surprised when they saw what his katana could do.

"Kaze no Kizu (Wind Scar)!" shouted InuYasha, swinging his fully released sword at one of the ninja.

They dodged it, but barely. InuYasha cursed; the Tetsusaiga ('Iron Breaking Fang'), which was the name of his sword, was better suited at taking out a whole field of shinobi, not just a couple at a time. But it was his favorite weapon, so he had to deal with the drawbacks.

Tetsusaiga was one of the three swords that were Taishou family heirlooms, rumored to contain pieces of the spirits of youkai. Their names were Sou'unga, Tetsusaiga, and Tenseiga ('Heavenly Life Fang'). For some odd reason, the swords 'chose' who they wanted to wield them. Both Tetsusaiga and Tenseiga had been the Tsukikage's at one point.

When he was eight, the Tetsusaiga had chosen InuYasha. His older half-brother, Sesshoumaru, had been very upset by that, and been exceptionally hard on InuYasha for a couple of years into his training. Sesshoumaru had been hoping that Tetsusaiga would choose him, even though Tenseiga had chosen him when he was six.

The reason why Sesshoumaru had wanted Tetsusaiga so badly was because it was supposed to be able to kill one hundred men in one strike. Tenseiga was a sword of healing, supposed to be able to heal one hundred men at one time. He had given up on Sou'unga, since _that_ sword hadn't chosen anyone in several generations.

But it had been a surprise the day when ten year-old InuYasha had dared eight year-old Kagome to actually touch the blade of the feared Sou'unga. The abilities of Sou'unga were legendary to the Taishou clan. It was said that Sou'unga could raise the dead into zombies, and that it could open the gates of Hell itself. None of these things, which InuYasha had told Kagome beforehand to try and scare her, prevented her from walking up to the dusty blade in its mount.

"Hora (see)," she had said as she touched it, "it's just an old katana. You're such a wimp, Inu-baka."

'Inu-baka' was Kagome's old nickname for him, and he had been about to retort, when he saw the old sword actually levitate off its mount, glowing an eerie, purplish color. Pointing, both he and Kagome had watched as the sword floated for a minute, and then headed for Kagome.

InuYasha and Kagome had run around the Taishou manor for nearly half a day, trying to shake off the floating sword. Just when they thought they had lost it, it would appear again in the room that they were hiding in, floating silently until they noticed it. Both children, though ninja, had been very frightened from the ordeal, and had been very relieved when the Tsukikage, known as the Inu no Taishou (Dog General), came home.

The Tsukikage had been puzzled when he realized that Sou'unga had chosen Kagome to wield it. It hadn't made any sense, considering that Kagome wasn't a scion of the Taishou clan, but the Tsukikage decided that it was because Kagome was a miko, and also housed a youkai inside of her. She had the powers to reprimand the katana, and also empathize with it. Sou'unga's choosing of Kagome was one of several things that led to Kagome's adoption into the Taishou clan nearly a month later.

InuYasha growled when Tetsusaiga missed the shinobi again. He badly wanted this battle to end, because the katana was slowing it down. But then again, people rarely got what they wanted.

-o-o-o-

Anko paused and looked up at Shi no Mori. More crashing and exploding noises were coming from it again, albeit a bit faintly. She wondered what on earth was going on in there to make such huge noises. First there had been that giant tornado that several shinobi had reported seeing from higher up. Now she was wondering what else was making such noises.

The forest was dense enough to muffle sounds. That was why it was as silent as the grave. It was an ideal place for the Chuunin exam, and that was why it had been used for several years now. Anko grimaced as another crash came from deep within the forest.

Sighing and taking a bite of the dango (Japanese dumpling) she was eating, she said, "Yare yare, what are they doing in there?"

-o-o-o-

Kakashi was book hunting. Most of the other Jounin were sitting around, and the ones that had participants in the Chuunin exam were sitting _and_ worrying. Kakashi was a little worried as well, especially for Naruto and Sakura, but Sasuke was there to take care of them. For now, he was looking for a book in Konoha's Public Library that had information on reiki.

"Can I help you, shinobi-san?" asked the librarian, who had come to check up on him.

Her eyes strayed to the pile of books on his table. She was an older woman, probably in her mid-fifties, with glasses and graying hair that was pulled back into a tight bun. She was also quite short.

Kakashi rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment and said, "Actually, I was looking for a book on something called 'reiki'."

The old woman's eyes brightened and she said, "Oh! Well, come with me. You won't find that in this Ninjutsu section."

Kakashi followed the tiny woman into a section that read 'Fiction'. He wondered at this as the woman grabbed a small, worn book from a shelf where she could reach. She flipped through it, brow furrowed, and then smiled with delight when she found what she was looking for.

"Here you are! What you're looking for can be found in this book!" said the librarian, handing the book to him, her fingers marking the page she had found.

"Arigatou," said Kakashi, taking the book and opening it to the right page.

The librarian left him. Kakashi glanced at the book's title and did a double take.

'_Nani? '_Myths and Legends of the Shinobi Nations_'?_' he thought.

Confused, Kakashi decided to take the woman's word for it and began to read the page she had marked for him.

**'Miko, known as shrine maidens or priestesses, are the subject of many tales in the old country of Japan, which the shinobi nations now divide. Miko were known to live in village shrines and give healing aid to those that sought it. Trained in herbal lore, miko also grew their own medical cures. Not only do miko heal the people they lived with, they also protected them.**

**'The **_**hama no ya**_**, or "purifying arrow", was the most common weapon used by miko. Rarely did a miko take up a katana or any other weapon. In those days, youkai of many shapes and forms still roamed the lands and preyed on innocent people. The **_**hama no ya**_** was able to subdue or destroy them by purifying them. Using a bow was very useful to a priestess, as an arrow could go long distances, especially powered by **_**reiki**_**, or spiritual power. **_**Reiki**_** could also be used to heal wounds by some priestesses. Healing wounds with it often required large concentrations of spiritual power.'**

Kakashi's breath hitched; he had found something! Come to think of it, that girl had carried around a quiver full of arrows and a red bow. He continued to read.

**'Probably the most famous miko in history was called Midoriko. She was the creator of a famous and powerful gem called the **_**Shikon no Tama **_**(Jewel of Four Souls), which is rumored to no longer exist. Impossibly beautiful, Midoriko was also a warrior, and one of the few miko that wore armor and wielded a katana. Legend has it that she battled a horde of youkai for seven days and nights, before forcing the Shikon no Tama out of her chest when the very last youkai imprisoned her in its jaws. Both the miko and youkai were turned to stone.**

**'The Shikon no Tama was found by the miko's only child, a son called Renmaru. The gem became an heirloom passed down into the family, and was eventually lost when the three branches of the family moved away from each other. The second branch went into what is now Hi no Kuni, and the third went far out West. The original branch stayed in Mizu no Kuni, and eventually built the Higurashi no Miya, as "Higurashi" was their current surname.'**

Realizing he had struck gold, Kakashi snapped the book shut and strode to the front of the library. He stopped by the librarian's desk, and the librarian smiled at him.

"Found what you wanted?" she asked, when Kakashi handed her the book to check out.

"Hai. By the way, do miko still exist?" asked Kakashi.

The librarian paused and looked at him, then laughed.

"Well, hai. But if you're asking about the ones with powers, then iie. There hasn't been a power-wielding miko in nearly four hundred years!" she said, chuckling.

She handed him the book she had just checked out for him.

"Arigatou gozaimasu," he said, smiling at her, though you could only see his 'U' eye.

The librarian smiled back at him and watched his butt when he walked out the exit. Her cheeks were red.

"Oh, if only I were younger…" she said dreamily to herself, holding her burning cheeks.

Kakashi, unaware of the attention, flipped through the book, and found several other interesting stories.

'_I'll miss my Icha Icha Paradise for a bit in order to read this, but now I remember where I heard "Higurashi" before. It was on a report on a massacre near a shrine in Mizu no Kuni. And that shrine's name was Higurashi no Miya. Looks like I'll have to go digging in some of the old report files,_' thought Kakashi.

He sweatdropped and thought, '_Icha Icha Paradise… How will I live without you?_'

-o-o-o-

Kagome was waiting. She was currently hiding in a tree and watching for any enemy ninja that happened to come by. In the clearing before her was the scroll that she had taken from the shinobi she had killed with Sou'unga. It lay right in the center where anybody passing by could spot it. Around the scroll were several chakra strings that served as trip wires.

Chakra strings served Kagome's purpose quite well. Most shinobi looked for the trip wires, and rarely noticed the chakra strings. And if they did, it was usually too late. One of the nasty side effects of chakra strings was that the trap that they set off was usually made out of chakra and not physical weapons.

"Oi! There's a makimono!" shouted a voice.

Kagome became very still and waited. A team of shinobi landed in the middle of the clearing and gathered around the scroll.

"Why is it here? Did someone drop it?" asked one.

Kagome rolled her eyes.

"Just leave it–" began one of the others, and then the other stooped to pick the scroll up.

"Baka yarou! Don't touch it!"

'_That was the worst thing you could have done,_' thought Kagome, smirking.

A fiery explosion shook the clearing, causing the ninja to be flung off in different directions. Kagome shielded her eyes into her arm, and waited. Cautiously, she probed the ninjas' bodies with her mind to see if any of their auras remained. When she didn't find any, she confirmed them dead and disarmed her chakra strings.

Hopping down from the tree, Kagome began searching the three bodies of the shinobi, looking for their scroll. She also scavenged some kunai and shuriken in the process. As she looked for the scroll, she reflected on how stupid they had been. Picking up the scroll had set off the worse booby trap that she had set up. She had actually rigged the entire extra Chi no Sho as a giant chakra bomb. It had been a risk, to use her only decoy for this reason, but it still might be worth it.

With a satisfied sigh, Kagome pulled out what she was looking for: the Ten no Sho. She tucked it down one of her weights on her legs and stood up. Before leaving the area, she checked for any enemy presences with her senses and nose. When she didn't sense anything, she went on her way.

She passed the shinobi boy who had set off the bomb. She looked down into his open, glazed eyes, and felt a stab of pity.

"Baka wa shinanakya naoranai," she quoted, and kept going.

_**Owari**_

-o-o-o-

**Omake: Something's Wrong with Kakashi!**

Kakashi was taking a break before he went to investigate the massacre near the Higurashi no Miya. He was walking towards the break room where all the other Jounin with exam participants were waiting, flipping through the book he had checked out from the library. As he neared the room's door, a random Jounin came out.

"Oh? Hey, Kakashi, what are you-" began the Jounin began, and then his eyes landed on the book in Kakashi's hands.

The Jounin turned pale when he saw that it wasn't one of Kakashi's Icha Icha Paradise books. Before Kakashi could register what was happening, the Jounin screamed bloody murder and ran back into the break room. Question marks popped up over the Copy Ninja's head.

"Something's wrong with Kakashi! He's reading a book that isn't Icha Icha Paradise!" was heard from inside the room.

A sound that resembled a stampede was heard as well, and before he knew it, Kakashi was being examined, prodded, and worried over by a group of Jounin.

"He doesn't have a fever," commented Yuuhi Kurenai, who had her palm pressed against Kakashi's forehead; she had to move his hitai-ite to do this.

"His pulse is fine," said Sarutobi Asuma, who was holding up one of Kakashi's arms with two fingers on the wrist.

"His pupil doesn't appear to be dilated," said another Jounin, peering into Kakashi's one visible eye.

Sweatdropping, Kakashi said, "Guys, what are you doing? I'm fine."

"You're _not_ fine!" said Kurenai, "How can you be fine when you're not reading those perverted books of yours and giggling over them?"

"I'm still reading Icha Icha Paradise! This is research," said Kakashi, pointing at the book he was holding.

"Oh, okay," said someone, and the Jounin herded back into the room together.

Kakashi stood in the hallway for a few minutes, and then turned.

"I don't want to go in there now," he muttered, and went back the way he came.

**Vocabulary**

Sayonara – 'goodbye' as in forever or a long time

_This is just a regular Japanese proverb_

Baka wa shinanakya naoranai – Unless an idiot dies, he won't be cured

(1) This is where the omake (bonus) with the Konohamaru Corps started for interviews and talking about Ninjutsu, so I'm not going to put it in here

(2) O.O

(3) That ninja sounds and looks like a woman! But they call him a guy…

(4) WTF is with Sakura always saying someone's dangerous? Seriously, we can tell just by looking!

(5) Almost just like Ibiki

(6) Wow, who pissed them off?

(7) -_-;

-o-o-o-

Sugoi! I finished the fourth chapter! That's a lot of writing, if you combine them all together! Now, if only my parents would get off my back about being on the computer so much, I would be happy happy happy! I'm fiercely territorial about the computer, and it's my mom's, not mine -_-; – ***sigh*** This is a short chapter… Hmm…

Ja ne!


	6. Chapter V: Forest Part II

Oi! Oi! Did you hear? Michael Jackson's dead! I never listened to his music (due to the tyranny of my parents), so I'm not really a fan.

Disclaimer: The lawyers found me out, so now I am being forced against my will to say that I do not own InuYasha or Naruto ***lawyer takes away knife from my neck*** ***sighs in relief***

**Ages:**

Kinuta Dosu – 14

Abumi Zaku – 14

Kin Tsuchi – 14

"talking"

'_thinking_'

'**Bijuu talking to host**'

**Chapter Five: Forest (Part II)**

-o-o-o-

Dokuzebi asebi yamakagashi  
Mozu no eda ni wa amagaeru  
Kitsune ga tabeta, shika no ko wa  
Tsuki no momo-iro mite shinda

A water hemlock, a Japanese andromeda, a grass snake  
On a branch with a shrike, a tree frog  
The fawn that was eaten by the fox  
Had looked up at the ruddiness of the moon as it died

~ 'RARABAI' (Key: The Metal Idol Insert Song)  
Utsuse Miho

-o-o-o-

Sasuke and Sakura had been attacked by Long-Tongue. Naruto had been blasted off somewhere, and Long-Tongue had posed as Naruto. But Sasuke had made up a password from 'The Song of Ninki', and the imposter had made a mistake. The password had been so long that Naruto wouldn't be able to remember it, yet the imposter had recited the whole thing. Thus Sasuke was able to find out about the imposter. The imposter ended up being revealed Long-Tongue, and had beaten both Sasuke and Sakura about terribly.

Luckily, Naruto had shown up, but Sasuke knew that this was a bad time to do so. After all, Naruto just charged into battle without thinking.

"Wait," said Sasuke.

"Hm?" said Long-Tongue, who was wrapped around the tree like a snake.

Naruto and Sakura said the same thing.

Sasuke dug into the kunai pouch on his back and said, "I'll give you the makimono. Please, take this and leave us in peace."

Naruto gasped.

"What?" said Sakura.

Long-Tongue smirked.

"Oi, Sasuke! What are you doing? What are you trying to do by giving the enemy our makimono (Japanese hand scroll)?" demanded Naruto.

"You shut up!" shouted Sasuke.

"Nani?" said Naruto, gritting his teeth.

"I see, you're smart," said Long-Tongue, propping himself up, "The only hope the prey has from a predator is to hand over something else to eat in order to save itself."

Sasuke and Long-Tongue stared at each other for a second, and then Sasuke tossed the scroll, saying, "Take it."

Naruto gasped and jumped in, grabbing the scroll. He rebounded off a nearby tree and landed beside Sasuke.

"You…! Don't butt in! Do you understand the situation you're in?" yelled Sasuke, looking worried.

He didn't expect Naruto to punch him in the mouth.

"What?" said Sakura. (1)

Sasuke landed on a branch across from Naruto.

"Why you… Why did you do that?" demanded Sasuke.

Naruto stood with his head bowed and his fists clenched. He was breathing heavily.

"I…forgot the password, so I can't make sure of this, but… You're a fake Sasuke, aren't you?"

Sakura stood up and said, "Naruto, what… What are you saying?"

"You idiot! I'm the real one!" said Sasuke.

"Liar. The baka and coward I see in front of me right now can't be the Sasuke I know. I don't know how strong he is, but there is no guarantee that he'll let us go even if we hand over our makimono! You're the one who is scared, the one who doesn't understand the situation," said Naruto, pointing at Sasuke. (2)

Long-Tongue laughed and said, sticking out his huge tongue, "Naruto-kun, you're correct."

-o-o-o-

Kagome stopped. Something was wrong, she was sure of it. Whenever something was wrong, she got a weird feeling deep in her gut.

'_And I have a feeling that _that_ guy is involved,_' thought Kagome, a picture of the man with the long-tongue appearing in her mind.

'_Something was off about him, as if his face didn't match his body or something._'

Suddenly, something rammed Kagome from the side, and she went flying. She slammed against a tree and gasped as a terrible pain went through her left shoulder. Panting, she saw part of a broken-off branch sticking through it. Blood had begun to soak into her blue shirt, turning it dark purple.

"Maa (well), maa, I see that we found the ama (bitch) that punched me back during the First Exam," said a voice.

Looking down, Kagome saw the trio of Otogakure (Hidden Among the Sound) shinobi that were harassing Yakushi Kabuto at the start of the Chuunin exam. They stood on the ground, looking up at her. Kagome was mentally kicking herself for allowing this to happen.

"What should we do with her?" asked the male with with spiky hair, called Abumi Zaku.

"Maybe we should just kill her now," said the female teammate, named Kin Tsuchi.

"Iie, I want to pay back what she did to me during the First Exam," said Dosu, whose full name was Kinuta Dosu.

Kagome tried to ease her shoulder off of the branch, but it wasn't working. Every time she tried to move her shoulder, excruciating pain stabbed through it. A sickening scent that Kagome recognized hit her nose. It was same scent that had clung to the man with the long tongue; it was the scent of death.

"You're with _him_, aren't you?" panted Kagome.

"And who might that be, ama?" asked Dosu.

"The man with the long tongue, that gave the examiner her kunai before we all got in this damn forest," said Kagome.

_Jackpot_. She could sense unease among them, though Dosu was doing a good job hiding it.

"Don't be ridiculous! That person was from Kusagakure (Hidden Among the Grass)!" said Kin Tsuchi.

Kagome laughed humorlessly and said, "Don't lie to me. His scent is all over you. And I must say, it's not the most pleasant of smells."

"Do you thing you're in any position to be saying that? Look at you, the pain is obviously getting to you," said Dosu.

"That may be," said Kagome, smirking, "but I'm used to pain. I have a high tolerance for it, you might say."

"You won't when Dosu chops all your limbs off and leaves you to the leeches," said Zaku, smirking.

Dosu suddenly attacked, appearing in front of Kagome. He swiped with the same arm he had used against Kabuto, but Kagome was already gone.

"Nani? Where did she go?" gasped Dosu.

A well-placed kick in his rear-end sent him flying. He tried to balance himself so that he could land. Before he could do so, he had been kicked again, and slammed into the ground, hard.

"I told you I have a high tolerance for pain," came Kagome's mocking voice from the canopy.

Dosu stood, while his teammates looked at him with a little bit of worry.

"I'm fine!" he snarled, and then looked up into the trees.

"You'd better come out and fight! Or maybe you're too cowardly to fight?" he asked.

"Oh no, I just don't want to be hit by your sound attacks. That's what you use, isn't it? I recognized what type of attack it was that you used on Yakushi Kabuto right away," said Kagome, her voice appearing from a different location in the trees on each new sentence.

Dosu said nothing, though his companions looked like they wanted to join in on the fight.

"You know," began Kagome, "you should really name your village something else. If you use sound attacks, the name _Otogakure_ is a dead giveaway, don't you think?"

One of Dosu's eyebrows twitched, but he wasn't known for rushing in to battle just because he was angry. Zaku was, though.

"Urusai na (shut the hell up)! Show yourself, you little ama!" Zaku shouted.

"No, thank you, but thanks for the offer, though. I have to get going, so ja ne!" came Kagome's voice.

Then there was silence. The trio waited with bated breath, but no attacks came.

"You know," said Zaku after ten minutes, "I think she really ran off."

Dosu sweatdropped.

-o-o-o-

Back in Konohagakure, three of the examiners had discovered something disturbing. They were Hagane Kotetsu, Kamizuki Izumo, and Mozuku. They were standing, or kneeling in Kotetsu's case, beside a row of blood-splattered Buddha statues doing hand seals.

"So three dead ones," said Mozuku.

"This is some sort of Ninjutsu, right?" Izumo asked the other.

"This is…gruesome," said Kotetsu.

Mizuku gulped at the sight before him.

"A problem arose already? Taku (geez)," said Kotetsu, ruffling his hair.

They gazed at the three bodies of dead shinobi in front of them.

"Let the Second Examiner, Anko-san, know about this," said Kotetsu.

"Hai!" said Mozuku, kneeling and then disappearing in a blur.

-o-o-o-

Anko was sitting on top of the booth outside Shi no Mori (Forest of Death). She appeared to be eating lunch.

"Sweet bean broth goes good with dango (Japanese dumplings)," she said, taking a slurp of it out of the can.

"Ah! Now," said Anko, eating a dango off its stick, "After I eat this, I guess I'll go wait at the tower for the guys who get through this."

She ate the last dango and continued, "This program is made so that the good ones should be arriving there about now."

She threw the dango stick at a nearby tree, where she was making the Konoha Leaf symbol out of the sticks.

"The Konoha mark is complete," said Anko gleefully.

A poof of smoke appeared in front of her and Mozuku appeared, kneeling.

"We have an emergency, Anko-sama!" he said urgently.

"Hmm? What is it all of a sudden?" asked Anko, not showing very much interest.

"Corpses. Three of them," said Mozuku, spreading his arms out.

"Hm?" uttered Anko, still chewing on her last dango.

"There's something strange about them. Please come with me," said Mozuku.

Anko swallowed her dango, putting a finger on her chin, saying, "Strange?"

-o-o-o-

Back where the corpses had been found, Anko walked closer to get a better look.

"From their possessions and IDs, we found that they are ninja from Kusagakure who registered for the Chuunin Selection Exam. But as you can see…" explained Kotetsu.

"Their faces are gone," said Anko, gritting her teeth and curling her fingers.

"Yes. Their faces are gone as if they were melted off," said Kotetsu.

Anko reached up and touched where her neck joined her shoulder in the back. She gritted her teeth into a feral snarl.

'_There's no doubt… This jutsu is…his… But why is he at this exam?_' she thought, picturing a silhouette of a man with a snake.

"Show me the pictures of these Kusa (Grass) ninja! It should be in their applications!" Anko ordered Mozuku.

"Hai!" said Mozuku, handing the applications to her.

The first application had a picture of Long-Tongue.

'_So he took this guy's face?_' thought Anko, looking at it.

She looked up in realization and thought, '_So he already took it back then…?_'

Anko thought of when Long-Tongue had returned her kunai to her.

Turning to her subordinates, she said, "This is serious!"

"What?" they said.

"You three let Hokage-sama know about this right away. And request for a mobilization of at least two ANBU squads to Shi no Mori! I will go after these guys. Got it?" said Anko.

"Yes!" said the other three, and they disappeared into blurs.

Anko touched the spot on her neck and thought, '_He… He's back at this village of Konoha…_'

-o-o-o-

Naruto was flung against a tree by a giant snake that Long-Tongue had summoned. Blood spurted from his mouth at the force of the impact, and then he began to fall.

"Eat him for now," said Long-Tongue, who was standing on the snake's head.

The blonde-haired Genin fell towards the snake's snout. And then he opened his eyes. They were no longer electric-blue, but dark red with slits for pupils. (3) Naruto flipped himself around.

"Damn it!" he shouted, kicking the snake in the snout.

The force was enough for the snake to move back so that it wouldn't get hit again. Naruto moved in again to hit the snake, and Long-Tongue noticed Naruto's eyes.

Narrowing his eyes, he said, "Is this gaki…?"

Naruto began repeatedly hitting the snake on the nose, screaming in fury. In the process, he pushed the snake back, causing decent-sized logs to break and go flying.

"Naruto's gone berserk… Demo…why is Naruto so strong?" said Sakura.

The snake's tongue made Naruto jump back and rebound against a tree. As he jumped back toward the snake, Long-Tongue made a gesture with his hand and spat scarlet-red fire at Naruto.

The blonde was caught up in it, and fell. He began breaking branches as he fell, before finally hitting one with a 'thud!' He gasped in pain and for air.

"Those eyes… I'm sure of it now," said Long-Tongue to himself.

"That's…Naruto?" said Sasuke, not believing what he had just seen.

'_This is getting interesting,_' thought Long-Tongue, and turned back to Sasuke.

"You're next. Sasuke-kun. How will you fight?" said Long-Tongue, and the snake darted for Sasuke.

Sasuke stood frozen in place, not knowing what to do. His heart thumped painfully in his chest, and he gasped.

"Sasuke-kun!" shouted Sakura.

There was a big crash.

-o-o-o-

It was sunset, and Mitarashi Anko was currently jumping through Shi no Mori as fast as she could.

'_I have to hurry. I have a bad feeling about this,_' she thought.

-o-o-o-

Sasuke was outright gaping, as was Sakura. Naruto had actually stopped the snake! His back was pressed up against the giant snake, and in his hands were two kunai. Both were stabbed into the snake's snout, resulting in two bloody patches. Naruto stood panting with his head bowed.

"Yo (hey)… Are you hurt…scaredy-cat?" asked Naruto, looking up at Sasuke.

Sasuke's eyes widened when he saw Naruto's red eyes.

'_Naruto,_' he thought, and remembered when he had said those exact same words to the blonde.

"This baka and coward I see isn't the Sasuke I know," said Naruto, glaring at Sasuke with his inhuman eyes.

Sasuke stared, still in shock. Suddenly, Long-Tongue's long tongue (4) snaked down, wrapped itself around Naruto's arms, and hauled him up to the top of the snake's head. Sakura gasped.

"Why you…! Chikushou! Let go! Hebi yarou (snake asshole)!" said Naruto, struggling in the air.

Naruto was brought forward so that he and Long-Tongue were a couple of feet away from each other.

'_I'm surprised that the Kyuubi no gaki (Nine-Tails kid) is still alive,_' thought Long-Tongue, examining Naruto with interest.

He made a weird hand seal and moved closer to Naruto. The blonde glared at him.

'_So he got excited emotionally, and let a part of Kyuubi's (Nine-Tails's) power leak out…_'

Long-Tongue turned his hand sideways and spread his fingers, his other hand grasping the wrist of the first. Purple flames of chakra that only he could see appeared one by one on the tip of each finger.

'_He had grown in an interesting way._'

Using the tip of his tongue, he lifted up Naruto's shirt. A black seal had appeared on Naruto's stomach.

"Hora (see)? Your seal has surfaced," Long-Tongue managed to say.

"Gogyo Fuuin (Five Element Seal)!" shouted Long-Tongue, and slammed the hand with the purple chakra onto the seal on Naruto's stomach.

Naruto gasped in pain, his eyes rolling in his head. On his stomach, there was a hiss of steam, and Long-Tongue drew his hand away. At first, there was no change in the seal. Then some more kanji markings and spiral designs appeared around the original seal.

"Sasuke-kun! Please help Naruto!" shouted Sakura.

Sasuke stood dumbly.

The small, red irises in Naruto's eyes flickered out of existence, and the electric-blue returned, the irises become large again. Naruto's eyes rolled up in his head and he went limp.

'_Twelve years have passed since it has been sealed. Naruto-kun and Kyuubi's chakra are started to mix together with each other,_' thought Long-Tongue, before reaching into Naruto's kunai pouch and taking out the Ten no Sho (Heaven Scroll).

'_But you are in the way right now,_' thought Long-Tongue, then threw Naruto behind him.

Naruto flew backwards, still unconscious, and then gravity began to suck him back down.

'_He's going to fall at this rate…_' thought Sakura.

She took out a kunai and threw it toward him, shouting, "Naruto!"

The kunai pinned Naruto to a tree by the back of his shirt. Sakura turned back to Sasuke.

"What's wrong, Sasuke-kun?" she asked, wondering why he was just standing there in shock.

Sasuke didn't even look at her, but stared ahead.

'_Sasuke-kun…_'

Sasuke didn't move, and just stood and trembled.

Furrowing her brow in anger, she thought, '_Naruto is different from you, Sasuke-kun… He's dumber and a nuisance sometimes, but…_'

"At least he's not a coward! Ne (right)? Sou deshou (right)?" Sakura said out loud.

Sasuke closed his eyes and thought of a shadowy figure from his past, a figure that had a Sharingan with three tomoe.

'_Foolish otouto (little brother). If you wish to kill me, hate me, detest me, and survive in an unsightly way… Run… Run…and cling to life…_' said the figure in his mind.

Sasuke opened his eyes, red with the Sharingan, and thought, '_No!_' with his face set in determination.

-o-o-o-

Kagome hissed in pain. She was hiding under a large bush and cleaning out the hole in her shoulder. It pissed her off that she had allowed this to happen to her, and pissed her off even more that she had had to flee a battle. But with such a large wound in her shoulder, she would have weakened quickly and lost.

She quickly unwrapped the piece of bandage she had used to stop the bleeding. First, she used some of her water, which she would have to refill, to wash out the wound. It wouldn't be very pleasant if it got infected. Then she applied a salve that she made herself to the outside part of the wound. Poking around inside it would risk infection.

Summoning her reiki, she pressed her hand over the wound. A blue light erupted from her fingers, and underneath that, you could see the muscles and tendons rejoining. Once it was a shallow wound, Kagome stopped healing it. If she healed it all the way, her shoulder would feel bruised for a week. Besides, since she was such a fast healer, it would probably be closed up by tomorrow. But just in case, she spread some of her salve over both sides of the wound. It would help prevent infection and promote healing.

Then she took out a small roll of bandages from her kunai pouch and wrapped her shoulder up so that it wouldn't have any contact with dirt. She noticed the two huge holes in her shirt and poked a hand through one of them.

'_Damn branch. I'll have to sew it up later when I have time,_' she thought.

-o-o-o-

"Sasuke-kun! You did it!" said Sakura happily as she ran up to him.

He had just used his secret jutsu on Long-Tongue, who was bound to a separate tree a little ways away and most likely dead. Panting, Sasuke was leaning over to catch his breath. He seemed very worn out, and Sakura noticed.

"Daijoubu? Get a hold of yourself," said Sakura worriedly, hovering over him like a mother hen.

Quite suddenly, Long-Tongue strained against the wires holding him, broke them, and walked forward. He stopped and made a hand seal, his real face peeking through a bit at the left eye.

Sakura and Sasuke froze and couldn't move. Sakura fell and kneeled on the ground, trembling. Sasuke managed to stay standing.

"Is he using some sort of paralysis?" he gritted out.

"I'm impressed that you can use your Sharingan so well at your age. You live up to the name Uchiha. I want you after all," said Long-Tongue, his voice deepening.

He wiped away the Kusagakure symbol on his hitai-ite, and an Otogakure symbol appeared.

Sasuke screamed both in frustration and in pain.

"You two are definitely brothers," said Long-Tongue, "Your eyes say that you carry more potential than Itachi."

Sasuke gasped at the name 'Itachi' and demanded angrily, "Who are you?"

Long-Tongue tossed up the Ten no Sho he had taken from Team Seven and held it upright in the palm of his right hand.

"My name is Orochimaru. If you wish to see me again, get through this Exam as if your life depended on it," said the man, and sickly-green flames began to eat up the scroll.

"The makimono!" cried Sakura.

"In other words, you'll have to defeat my subordinates, the three Oto nin," continued 'Orochimaru'.

"What nonsense are you chattering about? We never want to see your face again!" said Sakura angrily.

Orochimaru chuckled and said, "It doesn't work that way."

He made a hand seal and his neck shot up, extending further and further. Orochimaru darted forward and bit Sasuke on the left side of his neck. Sasuke shuddered in pain, but couldn't do anything about it since he was paralyzed.

"Sasuke-kun!" cried Sakura. (5)

Orochimaru withdrew the long canines he had from Sasuke's neck, trailing two little strings of blood. Two large puncture holes were visible on the side of the Uchiha's neck. Orochimaru's head went back to his body and his neck went back to normal.

Meanwhile, three tomoe arranged in a circle appeared on Sasuke's neck, on the back of the junction of his shoulder and neck. Sasuke grabbed it and began crying out in pain. His eyes were squeezed shut and his teeth were gritted.

"Sasuke-kun! What did you do to Sasuke-kun?" demanded Sakura.

Orochimaru put up a finger as if to shush her and said, "I gave him a farewell present. Sasuke-kun will seek me. He will seek me for power. It was fun being able to see a lot of your moves."

He slowly sank into the ground, chuckling lowly all the while. Sasuke, who had kneeled to the ground from the pain, was still making sounds from it. He began screaming from the pain, slumping on the ground.

"Sasuke-kun!" said Sakura, running over to him, "Get a hold of yourself, Sasuke-kun…"

"Come on," she said, scared for him.

She leaned down closer and saw the mark on his neck.

"Sasuke-kun… Sasuke-kun, come on…" said Sakura, as he continued to scream; he was holding her hand so tightly that it hurt.

"Sasuke-kun, please."

He finally passed out into her lap, and she held his head up. (6)

"Sasuke-kun…" said Sakura, and began to cry.

"Naruto! Sasuke-kun…he…he…!" she tried to say, but Naruto was still out cold.

A couple of crows flew up at the noise she was making, and Sakura watched them.

"Watashi… What should I do?" said Sakura, crying as she held Sasuke's limp body.

-o-o-o-

In another part of the forest, Orochimaru rose out of the ground, and Anko was hot on his trail.

'_I feel him!_' she thought.

Orochimaru began embedding himself into a tree, slowly sinking into its trunk as if it were made of slime.

'_He's close!_' thought Anko as she jumped down from a tree.

She jumped closer and closer until she spotted him. Orochimaru opened his eyes as Anko walked forward.

Smirking, Orochimaru said, "It's been a long time, Anko."

"You are an extremely dangerous S-class wanted criminal. That's why I'm going to kill you, even if it costs me my life."

Taking out senbon (throwing needle(s)) that were hidden up her sleeve, Anko continued, "It's my job as your former subordinate who learned everything from you, right, Orochimaru?"

"You can't," said Orochimaru.

Anko prepared to throw the senbon, but Orochimaru spat out his tongue. It shot towards Anko at a fast pace, but she leapt up and skidded against the tree behind her. She used chakra to stick to the tree trunk. Before she could throw her senbon, Orochimaru's tongue had grabbed hold of her right wrist and pulled her back down.

Landing on her feet, Anko watched Orochimaru's tongue lash around. She then made a gesture with her free hand.

"Sen'eijashu (Hidden Snake Shadow Hands)! " she said.

Dark-green snakes came out of her sleeve when she pointed towards Orochimaru. They all went flying and embedded themselves into the trunk, dust and wood chips flying everywhere.

"I won't let you get away!" shouted Anko, and pulled back the arm with the snakes.

The wood around Orochimaru strained and then he was forced to burst out of the tree, Anko's snakes attached to him. Anko whipped the snakes around in order to slam her captive up against the tree behind her. The snakes disappeared back up her sleeve.

Next, she placed his right hand against the bark, then placed hers over top it. With a yell, she pinned him in place by shoving the kunai through her own hand and into his. Blood trickled down the back of her hand.

Anko smirked and said, "I got you. Orochimaru, I'm going to borrow your left hand."

She made a hand seal that included his left hand.

"That seal is…" said Orochimaru, his one visible eye widening.

"Sou (yes)," said Anko with a satisfied smirk, "You and I are going to die here."

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Then she held it in.

'_Soujasousai (Twin Snakes Mutual Death)…_' she began, but was interrupted by a deep chuckling.

"Are you trying to commit suicide?" said a voice behind her.

Another Orochimaru rose out of the ground, and Anko realized that she had been too hasty. She had been tricked. Turning, she saw the real Orochimaru behind her, who reached up and pulled off the rest of his fake face. His skin was sickly pale, and his eyes were like a snake's.

"That's a replacement," said Orochimaru, the moon casting light over them.

Anko turned back towards the Orochimaru she had pinned, which turned to dirt before her eyes. It crumbled away, leaving her stuck to tree. Anko slumped in defeat, not believing how stupid she had just been, Orochimaru laughing all the while.

"You're one of the village's Tokubetsu Jounin (Special Jounin)," said Orochimaru, approaching her, "So don't use the Kinjutsu (Forbidden Technique(s)) I taught you."

Anko jerked out the kunai holding her hand and threw it at him. But Orochimaru just caught it between two fingers.

"I told you it's useless," he said, and made a hand seal.

Anko froze, pain overwhelming her. Orochimaru threw down the kunai she had thrown at him and moved forward until he was only a couple of feet away from her.

"Why did you come…?" Anko gritted out angrily.

"We haven't seen each other in a long time, but you're treating me so coldly," stated Orochimaru.

"Did you come to assassinate Hokage-sama?" asked Anko.

"Iie, iie," said Orochimaru, laughing a little and shaking his head, "I still don't have enough men to do that. So, I was planning on 'reserving' some outstanding ones in this village."

Anko's pain worsened, and she went into a kneeling position, holding the source of it. She was holding the back junction of her neck on the left.

"I just gave someone that same juin (cursed seal/mark) as a present a while ago. There's a boy I want," said Orochimaru, squatting down at Anko's level. (7)

Anko looked up and said, "As usual, you do what you want… But that boy is going to die!"

"Yes, there's only a ten percent chance he'll survive. But he might be like you, and not die."

Anko smirked, despite the huge amount of pain she was going through.

"You seem quite interested in this boy," she said, and then gasped when Orochimaru touched her cheek with his hand.

"Are you jealous?" he asked, stroking her cheek in an almost loving way, "Are you still angry that I used you, then cast you off like trash?"

Anko glared at him and he removed his hand.

"Unlike you, he seems like an excellent ninja. After all, he is the boy that carries the abilities of an Uchiha," said Orochimaru, smirking.

"His body is beautiful (8), and he is capable of becoming my successor. If he survives, things will become interesting. Whatever you do, don't cancel this Exam," he said, standing and then walking away.

"Three from my village are under your care. I'm going to enjoy this."

With those words, he disappeared, but his voice remained.

"If you take away my joy, it will be over for the village of Konoha…"

-o-o-o-

It was dark, and Kagome was avoiding the patches of moonlight under the trees. She knew that she needed to sleep, but she liked walking out in the dark. Everything was quiet, except for the occasional sound of an owl snatching up its prey, or the very faint sounds of shinobi being ambushed.

The sound of a stream made her pause. A stream! She still needed to fill her water canteen from earlier, and now was as good as any to replenish her supply. Carefully, she picked her way from the forest and came to a nice, flowing stream. She didn't like how exposed it was; even now, the moonlight illuminated her. As quick as she could, she filled up her water canteen, splashed her face, and took a couple drinks. But someone had seen her.

-o-o-o-

Neji and his teammates had taken a break just upstream. Each of them had gone off their own ways to scout, and Neji had decided to go downstream. It was mostly quiet, except for the screams of shinobi that carried in the air once in a while. Neji took note of this and remained on his guard.

He hadn't expected to run into anyone, yet he saw a girl on the opposite bank in front of him a little ways. She was being very quick about what she was doing, so Neji wasn't sure if he had seen her before or not. Before he knew it, the girl had darted back into the woods. And Neji felt intrigued, which was rare. He decided to jump across the stream and follow her.

-o-o-o-

Kagome was aware that someone was following her. She wasn't too sure whom, since she was tired.

'_Gee, maybe I should go to bed,_' Kagome told herself in a sarcastic tone.

Hesitantly, she began crossing a clearing where the moonlight was shining down. Hearing a sound from above, she spun and slashed with a kunai. Blood splashed on her, but it was not from a person. The huge slug she had just sliced in half died instantly, falling to the ground. Kagome waited, eyes darting around. The slug had come from above…

She craned her neck upwards and saw them falling towards her from the trees, their bodies silhouetted against the moonlit sky. Taking out another kunai, she began slashing at the nasty things that had failed at their ambush. Soon, she was covered in slug blood, which wasn't very pleasant smelling to her sensitive nose.

"Stupid things," she muttered as she put away one of the kunai.

Quite suddenly, she sensed the person who had been following her hiding behind a tree to her right. Holding out her kunai, she got into her defensive posture. She stared at the tree.

"Are you planning to follow me around all night? Or are you going to come out?" asked Kagome cautiously.

There was a silence, and then the crunch of leaves. From behind the tree came the pale-eyed boy that was Rock Lee's teammate.

-o-o-o-

Neji crept up behind a tree and waited for the girl to cross the clearing. She looked familiar, now that she had turned and was beginning to slice the native slugs into pieces. She looked almost ethereal in the moonlight.

'_Where have I seen her before?_' he wondered to himself.

And why was he even hiding from her? She was petite and frail-looking, though her next actions of slicing a whole horde of ambushing slugs said otherwise.

"Stupid things," he heard her mutter to herself.

He heard her turn quite suddenly in his direction, and he knew he had been caught.

"Are you planning to follow me around all night? Or are you going to come out?" she asked.

Neji smirked a little at the caution in her voice, but stepped out into view.

"Oh, it's you. You're related to Hinata-chan, aren't you?" she asked.

"Why should I answer anything? We are, after all, enemies," said Neji, wondering how this foreign kunoichi knew Hinata.

"Maa (well), if that's how you're going to be, then I'll just leave. I want to get this nasty slug blood off of me," said Kagome, edging around Neji.

Neji 'hmphed' and said, "Typical of a shoujo (girl)."

Kagome froze and gave him a death-glare, saying, "Don't group me together with just 'girls'. Most of them chase after boys, which I have never understood. While they worry about their appearances, I'm out training from dawn to dusk."

"Whatever," said Neji, and strode off the direction he had come.

What he didn't expect was something cold and squishy to hit the back of his head. It slid down onto the ground as he whirled. He saw that it was one of the halves of dead slugs that the girl had killed. With anger, he glanced up, and saw that she was gone.

He wiped some of the slug guts off of him, and wrinkled his nose. The girl had been right; the slug smelled horrible. And now he remembered where he had seen her before. It had been right before the First Exam, when Lee had asked Uchiha Sasuke's female teammate out on a date. The girl had comforted Lee and the Uchiha's other teammate, the one in the orange jumpsuit.

Neji decided that she was a weird girl. Not only was she nice to people who were not even from the same country as she was, but she had thrown a dead slug, not a kunai or shuriken, at his head. And she didn't even go after boys, or so she had claimed. That was a little weird, but Tenten and Hinata didn't chase after boys either. Neji sighed, and wandered off to continue his scouting along the stream. He had to clean off the slug guts, anyway.

-o-o-o-

'_Mataku (geez),_ _what a yarou (asshole),_' thought Kagome, splashing herself with water from her canteen.

Going to the stream had been a wasted effort, so she'd have to go again in the morning. For now, she would have to stop for the night and sleep.

Spotting a nice cranny under the roots of a nearby tree, she tucked herself up in it.

'_I wonder if InuYasha or Miroku have managed to get themselves killed yet,_' she thought before dropping off to sleep.

-o-o-o-

Kakashi was reading the report on the so-called 'Higurashi no Miya Massacre'. It had surprisingly taken him very little time to find it, and now he was holed up in the dusty file room, going over it. The report was from about nine years ago, and was one of the cases where shinobi from other nations were allowed to come and investigate something like this for various reasons, such as seeing if whatever was happening could affect them in any way. In this case, shinobi from Konohagakure had gone into Mizu no Kuni.

'**Bodies were found partially frozen and most with throats slashed as if with claws. The slashes were not clean; maybe a kuma (bear) or tora (tiger)? Thirty-seven men and four women dead, including the village priestess. Fifteen were Kirigakure no Sato (Village Hidden Among the Mist) ninja. The Kirigakure shinobi present claimed ignorance when asked about this. Items among the dead included wooden clubs, farming equipment, knives, shinobi weapons, and burnt-out torches.**'

'_Hmm, sounds like they were trying to rally or protect the village,_' thought Kakashi.

'**We went to the local village [Amedori]. When the villagers were asked why so many people went off together, they claimed an oni ('goblin', 'troll') had been sighted and needed to be killed.**'

'"_Oni"? That's a little superstitious,_' Kakashi mused.

'**The villagers were then asked if they knew why the Kirigakure ninja had joined with the hunting party. One villager claimed that the ninja had wanted to capture the oni and tame it to their will.**'

Kakashi thought that was rather like the shinobi nations and the capture of the Bijuu.

'**We went up and investigated the village's shrine [Higurashi no Miya]. There was no evidence on why the priestess had gone with the hunting party. A scroll was open on a table that told about exorcising spirits, but we believe it to not to be of any value. One interesting thing: There was evidence of a child living in the shrine, but when asked, the villagers claimed that there was no child living there. Investigation led to no explanation as to why forty-one people were slaughtered in one night. -Mission report end-**'

Well, that was that. This was the only report on the slaughter, though Kakashi was sure that there was a bigger report in Mizu no Kuni. He'd never get his hands on that one.

Kakashi sighed and rubbed his face. All this reading and thinking was giving him a headache, and he had to get to the tower in the middle of Shi no Mori to see when his team would arrive. He was sure that they would make it, so it was a 'when', not an 'if'.

-o-o-o-

Anko was sitting on a boulder in one of the larger clearings in Shi no Mori. She was wrapping up the hand that she had stabbed a kunai through.

Sighing, she thought, '_I have to let Hokage-sama know about this right away._'

Anko walked out into the open. She stopped and narrowed her eyes at a bush at the edge of the forest. She could hear snarling and saw one golden eye staring at her. Anko realized what it was, and it stepped out into the open. It was a large tiger. (9) Anko backed up against another boulder.

"Damn it, could there be a worse time?" she muttered, and watched a second tiger approach.

A third tiger appeared from behind the boulder, and the three of them soon had her cornered. Anko gasped when a stab of pain went through her juin (cursed seal/mark) again. The first tiger roared, and then was knocked aside by an unseen force. Anko looked on in surprise.

'_These are…paralysis jutsu?_' she thought.

"Here you are, Anko," said a voice from the forest.

Two ANBU were standing at the edge of the forest. They leapt up, one landing on the boulder nearest to Anko, and the other landing on the ground.

"You are ANBU members, but you arrived awfully late," Anko pointed out to the one sitting on the boulder.

"Don't say that," he said.

Anko cried out in pain, holding her juin. The ANBU members looked at her with worry and anxiety, though you couldn't tell from their facial expressions; they wore masks, after all.

"Are you okay? Oi," said the one from the boulder, after landing on the ground near her.

Then he grunted in realization and said, "That's… That juin has surfaced. Is it…Orochimaru?"

"What? Is that true?" asked the other ANBU.

"We're going to take you to Hokage-sama, then," said the first ANBU.

"Iie," said Anko, "go to the tower."

"What are you saying? Whenever Orochimaru is seen here, a maximum security order is supposed to be put in place. There is no time for an Exam," said the second ANBU.

"I know. I'll tell you the details later, so please ask for Hokage-sama to come, too," begged Anko.

-o-o-o-

Kagome woke with a start, drenched in sweat. She had been having one of her usual nightmares, but that was not why she had awoken. She kept still and listened into the night. Was it a noise that had caused her to awaken?

The quiet sound of voices alerted her. Keeping still, she tried to hear what they were saying, but it was no use. Whoever it was, they were coming closer, so she had a better chance that way. Slowly, she took out a kunai in case of attack. She held it tightly.

But she was surprised to see two ANBU members land near her hiding place. She could tell what they were because of their white masks standing out in the dark, and the tattoos on their shoulders. One had a tattoo on their left shoulder, and the other had a tattoo on their right shoulder.

"Looks like they found Anko-san. We should head to the tower," said one, a young male by the sound of it.

"Hai. But we'll have to cancel the exam if this turns out to be something that we'll have to lockdown for," said the other, a young female.

The ANBU disappeared, and Kagome stared at where they had stood. _Cancel the exam?_ Why would they do such a thing? After waiting for so long to take the exam, Kagome was pissed to discover such a thing. Whatever was wrong in the forest, it had better be something very dire to cancel the exam.

Sighing, Kagome put away her kunai and curled up into a more comfortable position. She closed her eyes and tried to go to sleep. An image suddenly appeared in her mind, and Kagome realized she had seen it in her nightmare. How odd. She never remembered her nightmares.

She focused really hard on the image, and saw that it was a young woman in her mid-twenties. She had a stern and cruel face, and seemed to be yelling. But Kagome realized the woman had blue eyes, like hers. A word slipped from her lips, not knowing why she said it.

"Kaa-san?"

_**Owari**_

-o-o-o-

**Omake: What About Miroku? **

Miroku was huddling under the roots of a tree, the same as one of his other teammates. He had seen very few people during his travel to the tower. This was why everyone said he hid and stayed out of fights. It was because he had the misfortune to not encounter anyone.

"Everyone's forgotten about me…" he muttered.

-o-o-o-

**Sugee (wow)…no long vocab…**

**Author's Notes**

(1) She sure does say that a lot, doesn't she? -_-

(2) Wow, Naruto's making Sasuke look dumb!

(3) It's Voldemort!

(4) Kinda confusing

(5) She says _that_ a lot, too -_-;

(6) If the situation were different, she'd be hopping up and down with joy… -_-;

(7) That sounds _so_ wrong

(8) Orochimaru sounds like a pedophile

(9) It's Japan! They don't have tigers!

-o-o-o-

Numba 5! Whee! Someone sent me a review that was asking whether Naruto and Gaara would fight each other for Kagome, but I plan on Naruto just being friends with Kagome, no matter how kawaii he is. SORRY! But Kagome _will_ get a crush on someone, though it might not be someone you expect! And another short chapter… Short omake, too…

Ja ne!


	7. Chapter VI: Forest Part III

Disclaimer: The lawyers are watching… Shhh… But you know that I am the rightful owner of InuYasha and Naruto ***alarm sounds*** S#1+! The cops! If they ask you anything, say you haven't seen me! ***runs for the hills***

"talking"

'_thinking_'

'**Bijuu talking to host**'

**Chapter Six: Forest (Part III)**

-o-o-o-

Moshimo eien to yuu mono ga aru nara  
Toomawari shite demo shinjite mitai  
"Bukiyou dakara kizutsuku koto mo aru" to  
Wakatte mo tomaranai mou dare ni mo makenai  
Anata no koto wo omou  
Sore dake de namida ga  
Ima afuredashite kuru yo  
Hakanai omoi zutto  
Donna toki demo negau yo  
Anata ni todoku you ni to...

If there is such a thing as "eternity"  
I want to believe, even if I have to take the long way  
Although I know that I've been hurt before because I'm clumsy  
I won't stop; I won't give in to anyone  
I think of you  
And that alone is enough  
To make the tears start to flow now  
I always, always wish  
That these fleeting thoughts  
Would reach you...

~ 'My Will' (InuYasha Ending Theme 1)  
dream

-o-o-o-

Sakura woke with a gasp. She turned back to where she had put Sasuke and Naruto, but they were still lying motionless on the ground. She had been having the most terrible dream.

'_It was just a dream,_' she thought.

She looked up into the trees, and saw the light streaming through their branches. Birds were singing, nice crunchy birds that were ready to be snapped up by the giant snakes inhabiting the forest.

'_Is it dawn already?'_ she thought with wonder.

Suddenly, a rustling sound came from behind her, and Sakura gasped.

'_Is it…?_' she thought in alarm, thinking it was Orochimaru coming back to get Sasuke.

She whipped out a kunai and clasped it in front of her with her hands, shaking like a leaf with fear. Slowly, she turned and saw…a cute little squirrel eating a nut.

Sakura stared at it disbelievingly and thought, '_A risu (squirrel)?_'

The squirrel started running towards her, and she said, "What, don't scare me like that!"

She gasped and threw the kunai when she realized where it was heading; it was going to get caught in the trap she had set up! The kunai landed in front of the squirrel, whose eyes nearly popped out of its head. It ran off in terror, squeaking all the while.

"That was close," breathed Sakura.

-o-o-o-

In the bushes near where Sakura was camping, the three Otogakure ninja were watching and waiting.

"Did she figure out there was a kibaku fuda (exploding tag) on the risu?" asked Zaku.

"Iie, that's not it," said Dosu, who was studying the situation carefully.

"Yeah? Then, why? Explain." said Zaku.

"We will probably figure out if we get closer. So let's get going, soon," said Dosu, peering through a bush and moving a branch to get a better look.

-o-o-o-

Kagome had been up since a couple of hours before dawn. She had dark circles under her eyes, because she couldn't sleep the night before. The image of the woman she had called 'kaa-san' had plagued her all night, yet she didn't remember ever having the seen the woman before.

'_Keh, why does it matter, anyway? I gave up trying to remember what happened a long time ago,_' she thought.

She stopped by a lower section of the stream she had visited the night before and filled her water canteen. Then she wiped off the dried bits of slug guts and blood that she had missed, as well. She drank some handfuls of water to re-hydrate herself a little.

'_Yoshi. I'll just keep going,_' thought Kagome as she stood and stretched.

She leapt into the trees again, and continued on her trek to the tower.

-o-o-o-

Rock Lee was trying to catch leaves out of the air, when he noticed a squirrel on its back. Its back was on fire.

"That's…!" he said.

He leapt for the squirrel, and grabbed it before the kibaku fuda on its back exploded.

"Ah! I made it!" said Lee, holding the squirrel in one hand and the burning fuda in the other.

He extinguished the fire it was making, while the squirrel rubbed its eyes with its little paw.

"This is a kibaku fuda, and it explodes after a certain time period. Who did such a horrible thing?" Lee wondered out loud to himself.

-o-o-o-

InuYasha was walking on foot. He had dark circles under his eyes, as well. But unlike Kagome, he hadn't stopped to sleep at all. At the moment, he looked like a zombie.

"Well, lookee here. Someone must've been out _all_ night," said a voice to InuYasha's left.

He grumpily turned his gaze in that direction and saw a trio of ninja.

"Leave me alone. I'm not in the mood," he said.

"Did you hear that? He's 'not in the mood'. We should show him that the world doesn't revolve around how he feels," said one of the ninja.

A tick mark appeared on InuYasha's forehead.

"I SAID," he began, making hand seals, "I'M NOT IN THE MOOD!"

"Doton: Anijigoku no Jutsu (Earth Release: Antlion Technique)!" said InuYasha.

The trio of ninja began to back away, then panicked when the ground began to give way and suck down into a large pit. The dirt caught them so that they couldn't leap to safety, and they screamed as they were sucked down into the center of the pit and underground. Once the jutsu was finished, everything was quiet.

"Good luck digging your way out. Kagome taught me that one, so I doubt you will," muttered InuYasha, still in a foul mood.

-o-o-o-

Chouji was sitting up in a tree, eating cookies.

"Ahh! We can't find any weak-looking people at all!" protested Ino nearby on the ground.

"Actually," said Shikamaru, turning towards her, "only Naruto's team is probably weaker than us."

Ino shook her fist at him and said, "You baka, do you know what you're saying?"

"What?"

A tick mark appeared on Ino's forehead as she said, spit flying everywhere, "Naruto and Sakura _are_ weak, but they have the super genius, Sasuke-kun!"

Shikamaru 'hmphed' and crossed his arms.

"I don't know about that," he said, "Geniuses can become quite fragile in real combat."

"What?" growled Ino, glaring at Shikamaru.

Shikamaru sweatdropped at the intensity of the glare.

"Fine, fine. Sorry that I upset you," he said.

'_Taku (geez), what a troublesome girl. She always glares at me whenever I talk badly of Sasuke,_' thought Shikamaru.

"There's no way Sasuke-kun can be defeated! Huh! Although Sakura can be," said Ino, crossing her arms.

Chouji was eating another cookie when he noticed something from the height he was sitting at. He leaned forward to get a better look.

"Sasuke's on the ground," he commented.

"Huh?" said Ino.

"And Sakura's fighting," finished Chouji.

"What did you say?" said Ino, and she and Shikamaru jumped up onto Chouji's branch.

She shielded her eyes like Chouji and squinted forward. When she realized what she was seeing, she gasped.

-o-o-o-

A kunai was stuck in the ground near a stream.

"He's late. That Lee…" said Tenten, staring at the kunai with her hands on her hips.

"Something's wrong. He's always on time. Maybe he encountered an enemy," she finished.

She gasped and said, "Did he…?"

Neji, who was standing opposite of her, smirked.

"That's not possible. Anyway, let's go look for Lee," he said.

"Okay," said Tenten, and they leapt up into the trees, leaving the kunai behind.

-o-o-o-

"Your move is indeed fast," said Dosu, looking down on a defeated Lee.

Lee gasped as his vision began to swim and distort.

"But our moves are the speed of oto (sound), and exceed yours."

Lee's stomach hurled and he vomited on the ground at Dosu's feet.

"Lee-san!" cried Sakura.

Lee gasped again as blood began to trickle out of one of his ears.

'_My left ear,_' Lee thought, holding it with his hands.

What had gone wrong? He was trying to protect Sakura from these Otogakure guys, and they had somehow ended up defeating him!

Dosu lifted up his arm with the metal contraption with holes and said, "There's a little trick in my attack. Just dodging it won't help."

'_What did he do…?_' thought Sakura.

"It's oto. You dodged my fist, but the oto attacked you," explained Dosu.

"Oto?" repeated Lee.

"Do you know what oto is?" asked Dosu.

"Vibrations?" guessed Sakura.

"Correct. Being able to hear something means that your eardrum catches the vibration in the air. And the human eardrum will shatter at anything above one hundred and fifty decibels. On top of that, by applying a shock to the semicircular canals, an opponent will lose his sense of balance," said Dosu.

Lee gasped, realizing that was what the Oto nin had done to him.

Dosu laughed and said, "You won't be able to move your body well for a while."

"Your outdated Taijutsu moves won't work on us. It was effective for a while, but I showed you my jutsu. So it's not going as smoothly as you though it'd be," said Zaku, who was behind Dosu.

He took his hands out of the ground and said, "I can control supersonic waves and air pressure, and I'm capable of destroying even a rock. I can send air into the ground and make it a cushion, as well. It's different from your dumb moves."

Zaku opened up his hands and revealed two holes. Both were sending out air at a high pressure. Sakura gasped, and Zaku grinned.

'_Chikushou!_' thought Lee.

-o-o-o-

Kagome unwrapped the bandage that she had put over her wound from the previous day. Dried blood had made it stiff and also made some sections stick together, but she managed to get it off. She grinned in satisfaction when she saw that the skin had healed together.

But it had also scarred. That was evidence that the number of tails that Kawarubi had changed again to a lower number. Kagome didn't mind, she liked getting scars, and this was one she could boast about to InuYasha and Miroku. They both had virtually no scars whatsoever, while she had many. Kagome wondered whether any other thirteen year-olds had as many scars as she did.

The scars on her wrists were from her early days when she hadn't known how to fight. She had held up her arms to prevent her face from being slashed, and her wrists and forearms had been cut. Luckily, none of them caused her to bleed too much.

She also had slash marks on her back, as well as burns. That was when she had been captured by enemy shinobi at age five. She had had to use her hyou (ice) attack on them to get free.

Tucking the bloodstained bandage into her kunai pouch, she stood.

-o-o-o-

Kin Tsuchi had Sakura by the hair, and Zaku was moving to kill Sasuke. Though she didn't know it, Sakura was being watched by Ino's team. Sakura took out a kunai, and Tsuchi noticed.

"There's no point to that. That won't work on me," she said.

Holding up the kunai and smirking, Sakura said, "What are you talking about?"

"Nani?" said Tsuchi.

Everyone watched in disbelief as Sakura cut off her own hair, the hair she had grown out because of Sasuke. Her hitai-ite came off, as well. Tsuchi fell backwards now that she no longer had a hold of Sakura. Hair strands fell everywhere.

'_I've always been acting like a grown-up ninja, and I've always been saying that I love Sasuke-kun. And I always lectured Naruto like I was better than him. But all I've been doing was watching their backs. Still, they always fought to protect me._

' _Lee-san, you said that you liked me, and fought with your life while protecting me. I think you taught me something. I want to become like you three. Mina (everyone)… This time… Please watch my back._'

-o-o-o-

"I wonder what Naruto-kun's doing now?" Kagome thought, as she rested on a branch while eating some wild edible berries she had found. She hummed a tune and swung her legs.

"Hm? This song…" Kagome realized, "this is that children's song with my name in it…"

A memory appeared in her mind.

"Sou desu (that's right), when I heard this song after I lost my memory, I remembered my name…" Kagome said quietly.

_***Flashback**__*_

_Four year-old Kagome was hiding in an alley. That was what she did most of the time; either that or scavenge for items she needed for survival. She had even taken to stealing food from people's homes._

"_Kagome kagome…" a chorus of children's voices began._

_Kagome peeked out of the alleyway and saw a group of children playing in the street. One was standing in the middle with their eyes covered, while the others had joined hands and were circling around the one in the middle._

"_Kago no naka no tori wa…"_

_'The bird in the cage?' That sounded strangely familiar. Kagome watched and listened._

"_Itsu itsu deyaru_  
_Yoake no ban ni_  
_Tsuru to kame ga subetta_  
_Ushiro no shomen dare…"_

"_The person behind me is…Yuki!" said the child in the middle._

"_Sugee…! She must have magic powers!" said the child behind the one in the middle. _

_The two children switched places, and 'Yuki' covered her eyes. The whole process began all over again._

"_Kagome kagome…"_

_A sudden headache gripped Kagome, and she gasped, holding her head. The words 'kagome kagome' kept echoing through her mind. A dim voice began in her head, and it steadily grew louder._

"Higurashi Kagome! Get back into your room! I want you to stay there all day today! Why am I even telling you this? I should just lock you in, like a bird in its cage!_"_

_Kagome blinked and thought, '_What was that? A memory?_'_

_The pain in her head slowly went away, but the memory remained. _

'My name is…Higurashi Kagome!_' thought Kagome, smiling and glad that she had something to call herself._

_***End Flashback**__*_

'_I was so happy to learn that I had a name,_' thought Kagome, smiling a little at the memory.

She ate the last berry and dusted her hands off. Nothing beat scavenging for your own food.

"I wonder how InuYasha and Miroku are doing… They haven't contacted me with the rings, so guess they're doing alright," mused Kagome to herself.

-o-o-o-

"Sasuke-kun! You woke up…?" began Sakura, then gasped at the sight of Sasuke.

Dark, purple energy was swirling around Sasuke's body as he stood. Everyone, including Neji and Tenten, watched with fear and apprehension.

"That's…Sasuke-kun?" said Ino, whose mind was in Kin Tsuchi's body and had a streak of blood coming from the corner of her mouth.

"Sakura," said Sasuke, taking a step forward and his skin glowing fiery-orange on the left side of his body, "Who did that to you?"

He was referring to how beat up she looked. The orange glow faded, revealing black, tattoo-like marks.

'_The juin has covered his body…_' thought Dosu.

"Sasuke-kun… Your body…" said Sakura.

Sasuke looked at his left arm, his red Sharingan eyes contrasting sharply with the black marks on his skin.

"Don't worry. More importantly, I can feel power surging inside me. I'm feeling good right now. He gave it to me…" said Sasuke.

"What?" said Sakura.

"I finally understand now. I'm an avenger (1). I must obtain power no matter what, even if I must let the devil take hold of my body."

Sakura stared at him as if he had lost his mind.

Zaku stared as well, and thought, '_I see… Just as I thought. The bruise on his neck that the Sakura girl was talking about was that juin. Still, I can't believe he woke up._'

"Sakura, say it! Who the hell hurt you?" demanded Sasuke.

"I did!" said Zaku stupidly. (2)

Sasuke glanced at Zaku out of the corner of his eye, and then turned to face him with a predatory look. Zaku looked uneasy for a second, and then smirked. Ino, who had used her mind jutsu on Kin, looked confused.

"Ino!" Shikamaru called to her from the bushes, "You're going to get confused as the enemy like that! Return to your own body! Chouji, you come here, too. We're going to hide."

"Okay!" said Chouji, and ran to Shikamaru and Ino's body.

"Shoot! Kai (cancel)!" said Ino, making a hand seal with Kin's body.

Kin's body collapsed, and Ino woke up in her own.

"Yoshi, you're back," said Shikamaru, actually sounding happy.

"Shikamaru, what's going to happen now?" asked Chouji.

"How should I know?" said Shikamaru.

Meanwhile, the black markings on Sasuke's body glowed orange again, then spread across to the other side of his body. The orange faded.

"This is…! This is too much for us…! His chakra is too huge!" said Dosu.

Zaku made a hand seal and said, "Dosu! Don't be afraid of that half-dead guy!"

"Iie, stop, Zaku! Don't you understand?" said Dosu, realizing his teammate was about to make a huge mistake.

"I'll kill them all with this! I'll finish this in a flash!" said Zaku, bringing up his hands.

"Zankuukyokuha (Extreme Decapitating Air Waves)!"

A huge torrent of wind shook the clearing, digging a track into the ground. Everyone fought to keep themselves from blowing away.

"Heh! They blew up into pieces," said Zaku after he was done; Sasuke and his companions were gone.

"Dare ga (who did)?" said Sasuke's voice behind him.

Zaku barely had enough time to register what was happening before Sasuke sent him flying towards Dosu just by pushing him.

"Zaku!" said Dosu.

Zaku coughed and managed to pull himself up.

"He's fast," said Dosu, "On top of that, he moved instantly while holding those two."

Sasuke, with his companions behind him, turned towards them. They both flinched, realizing they were in deep trouble. Sasuke made several hand seals.

"Katon: Housenka (Fire Release: Phoenix Immortal Fire)!" said Sasuke, and several fireballs flew towards Zaku.

"Don't get so cocky! I'll erase it!" said Zaku, blasting at them with the holes in his palms.

The fire began to go away, but kept on coming.

"Nani? There are shuriken in the fire!" said Zaku when the fire had been dissipated.

He covered his face with his arms as the shuriken flew toward him.

"Zaku! Below you!" shouted Dosu.

Sasuke appeared and knocked Zaku over, then grabbed him by the arms and used his foot to put Zaku into a kneeling position. Sasuke smirked sadistically.

'_His chakra is totally different from before! Is this really Sasuke-kun? What happened?_' thought Ino from the bushes.

Sasuke opened his eyes and began pulling Zaku's arms.

"You seem proud of your arms," stated Sasuke, pulling harder.

"Yameru (stop)!" said Zaku, looking back at Sasuke.

Sakura stared at Sasuke with disbelief, thinking of Orochimaru saying, "Sasuke-kun will seek me."

She gasped when Sasuke began pulling full-force at Zaku's arms. Zaku cried out in pain, and both arms popped out of their sockets. Sasuke let the Oto nin fall to the ground, and Zaku screamed at the pain. Sasuke glanced back at Dosu.

"That leaves just you," said Sasuke.

Dosu gasped.

Turning, Sasuke said, "You better entertain me better than him," referring to the now-motionless Zaku.

Sasuke walked forward toward Dosu, who was paralyzed with shock and fear. Sakura watched his retreating back.

'_That isn't… That isn't… That isn't… the Sasuke-kun I know!_' thought Sakura, beginning to cry.

She jumped up after him, yelling, "Stop!"

She latched onto him from behind, hugging his shoulders. Sasuke glanced back at her with his Sharingan eyes.

"Onegai… Stop…" Sakura begged his quietly.

Sasuke continued to stare at her, and then the black marks turned orange again. They began to recede back from his arms and face.

'_The juin is disappearing… Looks like I'm okay for now…_' thought Dosu shakily.

Sasuke collapsed onto the ground, sitting and panting. Sakura held him steady.

"You are strong," said Dosu, and they looked at him.

Dosu took out his team's Chi no Sho (Earth Scroll) and held it out to them.

"Sasuke-kun, we cannot defeat you," he said, and put the scroll on the ground.

"Let's make a deal. Please leave us for now," said Dosu, making Sasuke and Sakura look at him with confusion.

Dosu went over to Zaku, leaving the scroll behind. The conscious members of Team Seven stared at the scroll.

"We might be asking for too much, but we have something to confirm. In exchange, I will promise this… If we are to fight each other in this exam for the second time, we will not run or hide," said Dosu, picking up Zaku and Kin and then walking away.

Sakura looked at Sasuke, and then called, "Matte!"

Dosu turned with a surprised grunt.

"Who is Orochimaru? What did he do to Sasuke-kun? Why Sasuke?" demanded Sakura.

Dosu stared at her with surprise and then said, "I do not know. We were just ordered to kill Sasuke-kun."

Sakura made a frustrated sound, and Dosu turned back around.

'_You ordered us to assassinate Sasuke-kun, yet you went ahead and did something. And instead of killing Sasuke-kun, you left that juin. What are you thinking?_' thought Dosu, picturing Orochimaru in his mind.

Sasuke and Sakura watched Dosu's retreating back, and then others began running out.

"Oi, are you okay?" yelled Chouji.

"It's troublesome, Ino, but you take care of that Lee guy," said Shikamaru.

"Un!" said Ino.

From the trees, Neji and Tenten watched the scene before them.

'_That chakra was abnormal. The Uchiha clan's power is beyond my knowledge,_' thought Neji.

Naruto lay on the ground, talking in his sleep and blushing.

"Sakura-chan, watch out! Don't worry, I'll protect you!" mumbled Naruto.

Chouji and Shikamaru stared down at him.

"What should we do with him? Let's kick him awake," suggested Shikamaru.

"Can I do it?" asked Chouji.

Sasuke was holding his wrist, and his hand could barely move.

"What was I…?" he said quietly, looking shocked.

'_Sasuke-kun…_' thought Sakura.

"Oi! I saw some familiar-looking Oto nin fleeing from here, so I came to see what scared them off!" came a voice.

Everyone glanced to see who it was, and were surprised to see Kagome standing near the edge of the clearing.

"You!" said Ino.

"Hai, me. Is Naruto-kun knocked out?" Kagome asked Shikamaru and Chouji.

They nodded and stared.

"Mataku, I guess it can't be helped," said Kagome, ruffling her hair.

She strode into the clearing, everyone's eyes on her. She squatted down next to Naruto and peered into his face.

"Oi, Naruto-kun!" she said, flicking him on the forehead, "I have some tasty ramen here for you! If you don't wake up, I'm going to eat it all!"

Naruto's eyes flew open and he sat straight up. Kagome narrowly missed having her chin collide with his forehead.

"Hn? Ramen?" said Naruto groggily.

"Wari, I already ate it all. I guess you were too slow," said Kagome, dramatically sighing.

Naruto seemed to be out of it; he didn't even react to what Kagome had just said. He peered around the clearing. Sasuke and Sakura were sitting off by themselves, and Ino was helping Lee up. Shikamaru and Chouji were staring down at him with exasperation. All that Naruto remembered was that Orochimaru in his Kusagakure disguise had been attacking.

'_Where is he…?_' he thought, glancing around.

"Everyone, hide! Iie, get down!" yelled Naruto, flopping down on his stomach and crawling across the ground.

"Where is he, damn it," muttered Naruto, looking around for Orochimaru.

Sasuke and Sakura both glanced at the commotion.

"Naruto…" said Sakura.

'_That baka… He finally woke up,_' thought Ino.

Kagome went and stood in front of Naruto. She put her hands on her hips and leaned down.

"Whoever you're looking for, he's not here, Naruto-kun. Is it that guy with the long tongue?" she asked.

Sasuke and Sakura gasped.

"Huh? How did you know…?" said Naruto.

"Eh… He seemed like bad news to me. Just looking at him made my skin crawl," said Kagome.

"You're pretty dumb, aren't you? Actually, watching you pisses me off," said Shikamaru, coming up and looking at Naruto.

Chouji grunted in agreement.

Naruto sat up and looked around. He looked at Sakura and saw her hair.

"Sakura-chan!" cried Naruto, running up to her.

"What?" said Sakura.

"T-that… Sakura-chan! What happened to your hair?" asked Naruto, stopping and crouching.

"Oh, this?" said Sakura, touching her hair, "Just changing my image. An image change!"

Kagome wasn't buying it, but she stayed quiet.

"I like long hair…" continued Sakura, "But, you know, it gets in the way when I move around in a forest like this."

"Oi. Take this," said Kagome, coming up and holding out her container of salve.

"Huh? Nan desu ka?" said Sakura, surprised.

Kagome tapped her face and said, "It's for this. It'll help it heal faster."

Sakura hesitantly took the container and unscrewed the lid. The salve inside was pale green and smooth. She took out a small amount and spread it over her swollen eye, then her other bruises and cuts. It stung the cuts, but a warm sensation spread on the bruises.

"Sugee…where do you get this stuff?" asked Sakura, holding out the container.

"I make it," stated Kagome simply.

"Nani?" said Sakura, eyeing the container suspiciously, "You _make_ it?"

"Hai, I was trained how to make herbal remedies and had to memorize every type of herb that grows in the Shinobi Nations. It comes in handy once in a while," said Kagome, screwing on the lid again.

Sakura gave her a dirty look, and Sasuke glanced at Kagome sharply.

"You two look like you could use some. Lee, too," said Kagome, holding out the container to Naruto.

"Huh? What about you?" asked Naruto, pointing at the dried blood and the hole in Kagome's shirt.

"Take it. This has already healed up," said Kagome.

Naruto took the container and spread some of it on his face and hands. Then he handed it to Sasuke, who took a little, as well.

"It's already healed? It looks like it went through one side and out the other," commented Shikamaru as he walked up with Chouji.

Kagome smiled nervously and said, "It did. A broken tree branch went through it."

Everyone listening sweatdropped.

"When did you get it?" asked Sakura, curious despite her not liking Kagome.

"Eto…yesterday afternoon," said Kagome, holding her chin thoughtfully.

"NANI? How did you heal it so fast?" shouted Naruto.

"Do you need proof that it's healed up? It left a pretty cool scar," said Kagome, reaching for her shirt collar.

"Iie! Iie! By the way, why are you guys here?" asked Naruto, looking up at Shikamaru and Chouji; he apparently didn't think it strange that Kagome was there too.

Shikamaru sighed and said, "Explaining it to you is too troublesome for me."

"Everyone helped us," said Sakura.

"What?" said Naruto.

Ino, who was watching, smiled and thought, '_That Sakura… She's trying to act tough…_'

Tenten suddenly landed in front of her.

"Hm?" said Ino.

"I'll take him, now," said Tenten, referring to Lee.

"Huh? Un…" said Ino.

Tenten took Lee by the shoulders and began to shake him vigorously. (3)

"Wake up, Lee!" she said angrily.

She dropped him, and he fell to all fours. He looked up and blinked with one eye; the other one was swollen mostly shut.

"Huh? Tenten… Why are you here?" said Lee.

Tenten had squatted down beside him.

"We came to help you," she said.

"Ara (huh)? Where did the Oto nin go?" he said, looking around.

"That Sasuke boy drove them away," said Tenten.

"Sou ka…" said Lee, looking at Sasuke.

"Why did you take action on your own? On top of that, you're hurt badly!" reprimanded Tenten.

"Sakura-san was in danger, so as a otoko (man), I had to…" Lee trailed off.

'_Mataku, if Lee was alone, he wouldn't have lost to them_,' thought Tenten, picturing the Oto nin.

"You really are a baka!" said Tenten.

Lee huddled with his arms around his knees.

"I can't argue with that…" said Lee.

Suddenly, Naruto ran up, with Kagome close behind, and said, "Ah-hah! You're the fuzzy eyebrows guy!"

"Naruto! Don't talk like that to Lee-san!" yelled Sakura, punching Naruto and sending him flying.

'_Itai… What happened while I was sleeping…?_' Naruto wondered after he hit the ground. (4)

"Ne, Lee-san? I have a salve for your face," said Kagome as she kneeled beside him.

"Huh? You're…" said Lee, turning towards her.

"Higurashi Kagome!" said Kagome cheerfully, holding out the salve.

"Oh, arigatou, Kagome-san," said Lee, taking the salve container from her.

Tenten unscrewed it for him and spread some of the salve on his face.

"That feels good…" said Lee.

"Lee-san," came Sakura's voice.

Lee and Tenten glanced at her curiously.

"Arigatou. Thanks to you, my eyes are wide open now. I think I've become a little stronger," she said, smiling gratefully at him.

Lee teared up and said, wiping his eyes carefully, "Sakura-san… I… It looks like I need more training… Sasuke-kun…"

The Uchiha narrowed his eyes.

"You live up to the reputation of the Uchiha clan. You drove the Oto nin away. You truly possess great potential and power. While I lost horribly."

'_Nani? He lost? What's going on? Were they that strong?_' thought Sasuke.

Kagome glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. There was an evil, dark aura coming from his neck, and it was making her feel ill. It hadn't been there before…

Sasuke noticed her looking, and she quickly directed her gaze elsewhere. He frowned with suspicion.

"Sakura-san. The Renge (Lotus Blossom) in Konoha blooms twice," said Lee.

"Eh?" said Sakura.

"The next time we meet, I promise that I will be a stronger otoko," said Lee, and Tenten glanced at him curiously.

"Okay," said Sakura, and Naruto made a face.

"Hey, Sakura! Over here! I'll fix up your hair!" said Ino.

Sakura gave her a look, but took her up on her offer. Kagome took back her salve and pocketed it. She stretched, spreading her arms and legs and feeling the stiffness coming out of them.

"Maa, I guess I'll get going now. Too bad I missed all the action, though. Oh, well," she said.

She turned towards Naruto and said loudly, "Oi, Naruto-kun!"

"Ha?" he said.

"I'll see you at the tower, ne?"

"Un!"

Kagome laughed and started on her way.

"Ja ne, minna-san!" she said, waving back at everyone else.

Then she turned to the tree Neji was standing in.

"Ja ne, slug boy!" she said, waving at him.

Neji narrowed his pale eyes at her in anger.

'_Slug boy?_' thought Tenten.

Kagome walked off into the forest, and her form was soon lost in the undergrowth.

-o-o-o-

_~The Day Before~_

Miroku was hiding from two groups of ninja. They were the first shinobi he had come across, but the two groups were facing each other off. So he kept still, and watched.

-o-o-o-

"Suna no gaki (kids from the Sand) challenging us straight on…is quite foolish," said one shinobi, his hitai-ite stating that he was Amegakure.

The opposing team was Gaara's team. Gaara just stared coldly.

"Oi, kouzo ('boy', meant to be degrading). You should be more careful in picking your opponents. You are all going to die," said the grinning leader of the other team who had several rows of nasty scars on his face.

"Cut the chatter. Let's fight, jii-san (old man) from Amegakure," said Gaara emotionlessly.

The scarred man looked surprised, and then narrowed his eyes in anger. Kankurou was studying the other team.

'_Who has which makimono?_' he thought.

"Oi, Gaara!" he called to the redhead, "Shouldn't we follow them and gather some information before we pick a fight? If they have the same makimono as us, there's no need for us to fight. Unnecessary fights are–"

"It doesn't matter," interrupted Gaara, and the leader of the other team made a sound of surprise.

"I'll kill everyone we encounter," finished Gaara, and everyone watching, both hidden and not, stared.

'_That's why I don't like to be with him…_' thought Kankurou.

The leader of the other team growled and grabbed the handles of the umbrellas he had on his back.

He took them out, saying, "Then let's do this!" and threw the umbrellas in the air, where they began to float.

"Die, gaki! Ninpou: Joro Senbon (Ninja Art: Senbon Shower)!" said the ninja, making a hand seal.

The floating umbrellas began to spin, send out hundreds of senbon that had been hidden in them. The senbon began to land, but Gaara only blinked at the shinobi.

"This strikes from above, below, left, and right. There is no escape. The senbon are also regulated with my chakra, and will attack the target!" said the opposing leader shinobi.

The senbon flew towards Gaara, and there was an explosion of dirt, as the senbon seemed to hit their target. The shinobi that had sent the senbon grinned nastily.

'_Too easy,_' he thought, and then looked closer with surprise as the dust cleared and a sound similar to pottery breaking was heard.

Gaara was standing in the same position that he had been, with his arms crossed. A shell of sand seemed to have protected him from the senbon, but it had cracked in the process, revealing Gaara on the inside.

"Is that it?" asked the redhead.

The other shinobi stepped back and said, "What…? Not even one hit? He's unharmed? That can't be…"

He made a hand seal and more senbon shot down, but a slab of the hardened sand moved in front of Gaara and took the blow. The other shinobi growled in frustration.

"Senbon no ame, ka? (A rain of needles, eh?) Then, I'll make a chi no ame (rain of blood) fall," said Gaara with his eyes narrowed.

The Amegakure shinobi gasped at these words. The leader glared at Gaara.

"A wall of suna?"

"Sou da (that's right). It is absolute protection by the suna. He controls the sand inside the gourd and hardens it with an enormous amount of chakra. It is a jutsu only permissible by Gaara, and is used to protect his body. And regardless of Gaara's will, this is all done automatically. In other words, all attacks against Gaara are nullified," said Kankurou, and Gaara's wall of sand sank and pooled at his feet.

"Damn it!" said the other shinobi leader.

"You guys can't defeat out Gaara," stated Kankurou, and that pissed off the other shinobi with the scars.

"Don't take me lightly!" shouted the shinobi, rushing towards Gaara.

Gaara made a hand seal by pressing the fingertips of his hands together. Kankurou and their female teammate smirked.

'_He's dead,_' thought Kankurou.

'_That's what happens for opposing Gaara,_' thought the female teammate.

Gaara threw out his right hand with the fingers folded and said, "Sabaku Kyuu (Sand Binding Coffin)!"

Sand wrapped around the oncoming shinobi and entirely enveloped him in a short tower, leaving the face bare.

"I can't move…" he gasped, and his teammates gasped.

His umbrellas fell back to earth.

"This isn't so tough…" he boasted.

Gaara walked forward and said, picking up one of the umbrellas, "I can cover your loud mouth and kill you… But that would be too miserable on your side."

As he said this, he opened the umbrella and held it over his head. He made a motion with his hand as if he were gripping someone's shoulder, and the sand tower lifted up into the air. As his hand rose higher, so did the tower.

Then he clenched his hand into a fist and said, "Sabaku Sousou (Sand Waterfall Funeral)!"

The sand tower both exploded and collapsed at the same time, and bloody sand rained everywhere. The ninja's teammates cried out as they were hit by the victim's blood. But Gaara wasn't hit, because he was standing under the umbrella.

Once the rain of blood stopped, he said, "There was no pain. Because there was no time to even feel it. 'The tears and blood of the dead mixes with an endless quicksand. And further fuels the war.'"

"We'll give you the makimono! Onegai, let us go!" said one of the remaining enemy shinobi, panting with fear as he placed the scroll on the ground.

Gaara threw the umbrella away from him and held out his hands in front of him as if he were gripping two shoulders (5). Sand wrapped around the remaining two ninja, and entirely covered their mouths.

"No!" they said.

They had no time to suffocate, because Gaara clenched both of his fists, and bloody sand began to fall again.

Kankurou picked up the scroll and said, "It's the Ten no Sho. How convenient."

He turned to Gaara.

"Yoshi, head for the tower now," said Kankurou.

"Shut up. I still haven't had enough."

"Let's stop, Gaara," said Kankurou firmly.

"Are you afraid, coward?" asked Gaara, glaring at Kankurou.

Kankurou gritted his teeth and said, walking towards the other, "Gaara! You might be okay…but it's too dangerous for us! We just need one set of makimono! We don't need anymore…"

"You slacker. Don't order _me_ around," said Gaara, holding out his hand with the fingers folded.

The female teammate (6) watched the confrontation closely.

"Cut it out!" said Kankurou, grabbing Gaara by the front of his shirt, "Why don't you listen to what your aniki (older brother) says once in a while!"

"I have never thought of you two as siblings. If you get in my way, I'll kill you," said Gaara, and then knocked Kankurou's hand away.

He resumed holding out his hand threateningly.

"Gaara, stop. Don't be so cold. This is your nee (short for nee-chan/san, 'big sister') asking you. Ne?" said Gaara's sister, putting her hands together as if praying.

This didn't deter Gaara at all. He moved his hand in gesture that looked like he was gripping someone's shoulder. Then he moved his arm out so that his hand was pointing to his right. Sand began to collect around his hand a little.

"Gaara!" shouted his sister in alarm.

He closed his fist, and nothing happened. He stared at his brother for a moment, and then looked at his hand, which held the plug to his gourd.

"Fine," he said, putting it in place and then walking off.

His siblings watched him. His sister sighed, and Kankurou gritted his teeth in anger.

'_Damn it. That's why I hate gaki,_' he thought venomously.

-o-o-o-

Miroku had nearly wet himself. That Sunagakure kid was dangerous! He had killed those shinobi without any mercy whatsoever. In fact, he had enjoyed it! What kind of sick-minded person actually enjoyed killing people? He had even threatened to kill his own siblings!

His heart was still pounding, and the Sunagakure nin had left five minutes ago. He couldn't bring himself to move! And he was more than willing to stay there forever, if need be! And then he thought of Sango, the kunoichi that he was betrothed to.

Sango was scary when she was angry. She and Miroku were betrothed at birth, and she was already a Chuunin. She was also friends with Kagome, even though they were three years apart. Sango was the same age as Miroku, and they had even been born a few days apart. But Miroku really liked Sango, so he didn't intend to go too far with his flirting with other women.

Sighing and drooping with depression, Miroku thought, '_Sango, I wish you were here right now._'

Thinking of Sango gave him the motivation to move again. With a sigh, Miroku stood and leapt into the trees again, searching for the tower.

-o-o-o-

_~Back To Present Time~_

At the tower in the middle of Shi no Mori, Anko was speaking to the two ANBU that had brought her there. She was sitting on a couch in a reasonably comfy room.

"We have a situation, but we can't cancel the Exam," said Anko.

"What do you mean?" asked one of the ANBU.

The door to room opened, and an examiner named Tatami Iwashi was seen standing outside.

"Excuse me," he said.

"What is it? I'm having an important conversation here," said Anko irritably, annoyed that she had been interrupted.

"Sumimasen," said Iwashi, sweatdropping, "But please look at this."

He held up a videotape.

"A video?" said one of ANBU as Iwashi placed the video in the cassette player.

"Okay, observe the time here, and watch," said Iwashi, clearly shaken.

At first, there was static, and then the screen showed Gaara and his teammates. The time showed the numbers sixteen thirty-seven. Anko gasped.

"This is…" she said.

"After the Second Exam started, one hour and thirty-seven minutes later, this is a recording of the tower at that time," said Iwashi.

"_Three from Sunagakure have finished the Second Exam,_" said a voice on the tape, shocked as well.

Gaara looked up directly into the camera, glaring at all that watched.

"Is this possible?" said Anko, standing.

"They finished in just ninety-seven minutes. This has never happened before. This is abnormal. They are not Genin. They broke the old record by four hours," said Iwashi.

"That's not the only thing," Anko observed.

"What do you mean?" asked the examiner.

"It's approximately ten kilometers from the exam entrances to this tower," said Anko, walking over to the window, "There are wild beasts, poisonous bugs, and steep forest trails…and they are acting as if nothing happened. That brown-haired boy (7) closest to us in particular is…"

"What about this boy?" asked Iwashi.

"Haven't you noticed?" she asked.

The other three rewound the tape and watched Gaara again.

"I see, this is quite surprising," said one of the ANBU.

"What's so surprising about him?" asked Iwashi. (8)

"Look closely at his body," said Anko.

Iwashi looked at Gaara again, and he realized what he was seeing.

"I see," he said.

"He has no wounds. Also, his clothes aren't dirty at all," said Anko.

"Right now, even I… Iie… It's even impossible for the other Chuunin to arrive to this tower unharmed," said Iwashi.

"It must have to do with his ability. It's been a long time since a promising guy has emerged. Although, he has unpleasant eyes," said one of the ANBU.

-o-o-o-

They had finally done it. Kagome, InuYasha, and Miroku stood in the plain stone room, a little worn, but alive just the same. Kagome had contacted both of them a few hours previously through the chakra links in their rings and asked them their locations. Surprisingly, they hadn't been that far from each other, so Kagome had sent them an image of where she was at and waited for them to come.

And getting to the tower was also easy, despite all the scroll collectors prowling around it. They had avoided the Genjutsu that had been set up, and had seen the bodies of the ninja that had not. Once they arrived at the tower, they went through one of the sets of red doors, tearing the white sealing paper in the process.

"So, what do we do now?" said InuYasha.

Kagome looked up at the poster on the wall.

"'If you do not possess Ten (Heaven), gain knowledge and be prepared. If you do not possess Chi (Earth) run through the fields and seek strength. If you open both Ten and Chi Sho, dangerous paths turn into safe paths. This is the secret of…' Eh? It's missing some characters? 'It shall lead you on your way'," read Kagome.

"Keh, what does that mean?" said InuYasha.

"We'll find out when we open the makimono. It says we can," said Kagome, taking out both scrolls.

She handed the Ten no Sho to Miroku.

"Oi, why didn't you give it to me?" asked InuYasha.

"Because I wouldn't trust you not to blow it up or something!" shouted Kagome, tick marks appearing all over her head.

InuYasha sweatdropped and stayed quiet.

"Yoshi, on the count of san (three), we open them and set them down," said Kagome, and Miroku nodded.

"Ichi (one)… Ni (two)… San!" said Kagome, opening her scroll and placing it on the floor.

Miroku did the same thing at the same time, and they stared at the scrolls. There was a big character of 'hito' or 'jin' (9) ('person') surrounded by several lines of writing on each one.

"What the hell does that mean? That doesn't help us at all!" shouted InuYasha as he pointed at the scrolls; Kagome sighed at his outburst.

Both Miroku and InuYasha stepped back in surprise when both of the 'hito' characters popped up and began smoking.

"That's why I said to put them on the ground. I figured there would be something like this," said Kagome, standing with her eyes closed and arms folded.

"Nan desu ka?" said Miroku.

"It's a summoning inscription. Hora (see)?" said Kagome, and an explosion came from the smoking scrolls.

They waited as the smoke cleared away, revealing a person standing on top of the scrolls. It was Hagane Kotetsu.

"Oi. You three arrived awfully late at night," he said.

Then he noticed Kagome and grunted in surprise.

"You're that girl that saw through mine and Izumo's disguises…" he said, quietly.

"Un. I hope you're going to try harder next time around with a better disguise," said Kagome, smirking slightly.

Kotetsu ruffled his hair and said, "Taku (geez), they have a lot of smart gaki this time. Anyway, in case you're wondering, the Konoha Chuunin are the ones welcoming the examinees that make it to the end, like you."

"You seem thrilled," muttered Miroku, sweatdropping slightly.

"I have to pass you a message, so listen up," said Kotetsu, and then was interrupted by InuYasha.

"Is this going to be about the makimono? We were supposed to bring them here without looking at them, 'cause it's like a real mission, ne? We've already done missions like those!" complained InuYasha, and Kotetsu grunted with surprise again.

"Urusai! You're being rude!" yelled Kagome as she hit him on the head.

Then she turned to Kotetsu and bowed, saying, "Sumimasen for my teammate's manners!"

Kotetsu smiled a little.

"Maa, he's right, though," he said, "This exam tested your ability to complete missions. If you had opened the makimono, I would have been forced to knock you out until the Second Exam ended. Also, I have to explain this mural on the wall."

"Oh, that's easy," said Miroku, holding up a finger, "'Ten' means the head and how you think, and 'Chi' is the body. If you do not have enough knowledge, then you should gain more and prepare. If you lack in the 'body' part, you should train more and gain strength. But if you have both, your missions get easier, ne?"

Everyone sweatdropped except him.

"You've been reading too many of those philosophy scrolls in the shrine," muttered Kagome out of the corner of her mouth, and Miroku laughed nervously.

"This was a principle Hokage-sama wrote for Chuunin to keep in mind. You probably noticed that there was a missing character, and that character symbolizes a Chuunin. The 'hito' and 'jin' on the makimono is the missing character, meaning you are just human," said Kotetsu.

"Oh?" said InuYasha.

"The survival mission you just took tested to see if you have the basic abilities of a Chuunin. But remember, a Chuunin is a commander-class.

"A Chuunin has a duty to lead a team. And never forget how important knowledge and strength is during your missions. Congratulations on finishing the Second Exam," finished Kotetsu, giving Kagome a little smile.

"Arigatou gozaimasu!" she said, smiling cutely.

"I knew you were bipolar," muttered InuYasha.

-o-o-o-

Taishou Sesshoumaru was sitting in the waiting room for the Jounin. It wasn't against the rules to arrive at the tower before your students even finished, but it saved a lot of time to just wait back in the village and be summoned once your students finished. Sesshoumaru, however, was one of the ones that knew his students would finish, and had arrived at the tower before them.

He had a kunai in his hand, as well as a small block of wood. With careful precision, he began to carve into the piece of wood. And he was also getting stared at by several other Jounin.

'_Is that an otoko (man) or an onna (woman)?_' thought Kakashi, sweatdropping from his seat across from Sesshoumaru's.

Yuuhi Kurenai, the sensei of Kiba's team, apparently had no difficulty determining Sesshoumaru's gender.

'_He's so gorgeous,_' she thought, her cheeks as red as her eyes.

Sarutobi Asuma, the sensei of Shikamaru's team and also the son of the Hokage, nearly let his cigarette fall from his mouth while he was staring.

'_What kind of guy looks like _that_?_' he asked himself.

Kakashi froze when Sesshoumaru slowly raised his golden eyes up to meet his own. They were like frozen suns, Kakashi realized. They held no emotion whatsoever. Supposedly satisfied, Sesshoumaru slowly lowered his gaze back to the carving he was working on.

A commotion that grew steadily louder woke everyone out of his or her reverie. Most of the Jounin glanced at the door, and Sesshoumaru sighed. The other Jounin watched as he stood and walked over to the door.

Opening it, he said sternly, "Cease your bickering, at once."

'_Yep, definitely a guy,_' thought Kakashi, hearing the other male's low baritone.

Outside the door in the hallway stood Sesshoumaru's three students. Kagome and InuYasha were fuming at each other, while Miroku apparently had been waving his hands in front of him and sweatdropping while trying to calm them down.

"He/she started it!" Kagome and InuYasha said simultaneously, pointing at each other.

"I don't care who started it. I'll _finish_ it," said Sesshoumaru threateningly.

InuYasha and Kagome gulped and straightened. Miroku, however, popped out from behind them.

"Konbanwa (good evening), Sesshoumaru-sensei! And I must say, you look positively–"

"Whatever you're doing, Miroku, it's not working," said Kagome as she looked at Sesshoumaru's impassive face.

She peeked around Sesshoumaru and saw some of the other waiting Jounin staring. She recognized Kakashi and waved, mouthing 'Kakashi-san'. Kakashi sweatdropped.

"I see that you three managed to arrive intact, so we should retire for the night. Ikuzou (let's go)," said Sesshoumaru, turning and walking down the hallway.

"Eh?" said his students.

Kagome closed the door into the waiting room, saying, "Sumimasen," to its inhabitants.

"Oi, gaki! We don't want to keep His Royal Pain in the Ass waiting!" InuYasha called to her.

"Coming!" said Kagome, running after the rest of her team.

-o-o-o-

InuYasha was lying awake; he couldn't sleep. Sesshoumaru was sitting against the wall in what he considered his 'comfortable' position – though InuYasha couldn't imagine how it was comfortable – and appeared to be asleep. InuYasha knew better.

Miroku wasn't asleep either; InuYasha was getting annoyed by the giggling coming from the other. Kagome was the only one that appeared to be asleep. Once they had entered the room, she had collapsed onto a futon and fallen asleep right away, and no one dared to wake her.

Another giggle came from Miroku, and one of InuYasha's eyebrows twitched in annoyance. When yet another one came, InuYasha grabbed one of his ninja sandals and threw it at the houshi.

"Will you put that damn book away and go to sleep?" InuYasha said in a high whisper.

Miroku turned over, revealing that he had a book in his hand. It was Icha Icha Paradise.

"But I can't sleep," said Miroku, stating it as if it were obvious.

"Would you like me to help you with that?" asked InuYasha, threateningly holding up a fist with a tick mark on it.

A sweatdrop appeared on Miroku's head.

"Iie, but arigatou. I'll put away the book," said Miroku.

InuYasha watched as the houshi stuffed the book away into his pack and then as he flopped down onto his futon with his back to the pissed-off Taishou. Once he was satisfied, InuYasha flopped down with his back to the other.

Then, a sound reached InuYasha's ears. It was faint, but clearly the sound of a hand sliding over a surface and trying to be sneaky. InuYasha gritted his teeth; Miroku was going after the book again.

"Don't…even…think…about…it," InuYasha said slowly, fighting the urge to strangle the other ninja.

There was a sound of a hand being retracted and Miroku muttering, "Kuso."

"If Sango were here, she'd kick your ass. You and that hon (book) no baka," responded InuYasha, snuggling down into his futon.

_**Owari**_

-o-o-o-

**Omake: 'Slug Boy'**

Tenten glanced curiously at Neji. He had been in a bad mood ever since that girl had called him 'slug boy', whatever that meant. Lee seemed to be thinking the same thing, because he kept glancing at the Hyuuga.

"Oi, Neji? Is anything bothering you?" asked Lee hesitantly.

"Why would you think that?" asked Neji, not even looking at Lee.

"Ano, is this because that girl called you 'slug boy'?" asked Tenten.

Neji momentarily stiffened, but it soon passed. He gave a humorless chuckle.

"Why would something like that bother me?" asked Neji.

Tenten and Lee stared at him, sweatdropping.

'_Because it _is_ bothering you,_' they both thought.

-o-o-o-

**Author Notes**

(1) No, you're an emo that's full of himself

(2) Who the f*** is _that_ stupid?

(3) This is one of the reasons why Tenten is one of my favorite characters

(4) Poor Naruto-kun. The whole world turned upside-down while he was unconscious

(5) I was having perverted thoughts at this scene. I was thinking, 'Oh, what if a woman was standing in front of him at that moment?' -_-;;

(6) For the love of God, tell us her name already!

(7) Why do they say 'brown-haired', anyway? Is it a translation mistake or his hair color on the video? I didn't hear the word for red, so…

(8) This is why you're still a f***ing Chuunin, Iwashi!

(9) WTF? They both mean the same thing, yet they can have different readings…

-o-o-o-

Dun dun dunn! Last 'Forest' chapter, so I can start making up new chapter names now! My parents are watching Harry Potter 4 right now, so I keep rushing downstairs to see the funny parts, like when Ron's forced to dance with Professor McGonagall, or when Snape (Alan Rickman! ***kyaa!*** I go for older guys…) smacks Harry and Ron on the head with a book

When you review, please tell me who you think Kagome will get a crush on. I'm interested to see your answers! ^.^

Ja ne!


	8. Chapter VII: Waiting

Disclaimer: I am currently hiding in the hills from the cops, but so that they don't find me, I don't own Naruto or InuYasha

**Ages:**

Temari – 15

"talking"

'_thinking_'

'**Bijuu talking to host**'

**Chapter Seven: Waiting**

-o-o-o-

Nemuru yoru ni  
Hitori utau uta  
Watau kaze no issho ni  
Omoi wo nosete tobu yo

In the sleepless night  
I sing this song alone  
Together with the blowing wind  
I fly riding on my thoughts

~ 'Yoru no Uta' (Cardcaptor Sakura Insert Song)  
Iwao Junko (1)

-o-o-o-

InuYasha woke to the sound of scrubbing. At first, he thought it was just a part of his dream, but then he became aware that it was coming from an outside source. He groggily opened his eyes and squinted at the morning light filtering into the room. Someone must have opened the blinds.

Turning over on his back and sitting up, InuYasha confirmed the source of the scrubbing noise. Kagome was sitting with her back against the wall and was scrubbing at her shirt with a rag.

She had wrapped bandages around her torso for modesty, even though InuYasha knew that she was forced to wear a bra. Although she hadn't started 'developing' yet, unlike most girls, the Inu no Taishou (Dog General) had told Kagome to start wearing a bra so that it became a habit (2). Kagome had been horribly embarrassed that it had been a male to tell her this, and not a woman. But both Sesshoumaru's and InuYasha's mothers had died, so the duty had fallen to the man of the house.

"What are you doing?" groaned InuYasha.

"Getting the blood out of my shirt. Then I'm going to mend the holes in it. By the way, you slept over a whole day. I woke up yesterday at noon," said Kagome, not looking up from her work.

Rubbing his head, InuYasha said, "Mataku, no wonder I have a headache."

InuYasha's eyes strayed to the round scar with jagged edges on her shoulder. It was a pretty decent-sized scar.

"In case you're wondering, it went all the way through my shoulder. There is a scar on both sides of it," stated Kagome, still not looking up.

"Keh," said InuYasha, putting on one of his sandals, "you know that the silk's going to stain if you're using water, ne?"

"I don't care if it stains. I just don't want people asking me about the blood on my shirt."

InuYasha looked around for his other sandal, and then remembered that he had thrown it at Miroku the other night. Speaking of Miroku, he looked like he was still asleep. InuYasha stood and walked over to retrieve his sandal. He bent down to pick it up, and as he straightened his eyes landed on the object in Miroku's hand. Eyebrow twitching, he realized what it was. The Icha Icha book.

Even though Miroku wasn't eighteen, he was a big fan of Icha Icha Paradise. He had been 'introduced' to it via InuYasha's father. One of the books had been left lying around in the Taishou Manor, and Miroku had happened upon it one day when he had come to visit InuYasha and Kagome for a mission. He never found them, because he had picked up the book and couldn't stop reading it. When _they_ had found _him_, they had had to pry the book from his fingers and drag him from the manor. But for Miroku's birthday, the Tsukikage gave Miroku his own set.

Careful not to wake Miroku, InuYasha pulled the book from the houshi's hand.

"What are you doing?" asked Kagome.

"This," said InuYasha, smirking and holding up the book, "is a hostage."

Kagome raised an eyebrow.

"Once he finds out it's missing, he'll do whatever I want today. I'll give it back to him at the end of the day…or maybe set it on fire so I don't have to listen to his damn giggling anymore," explained InuYasha, grinning sadistically.

"That might not work. Miroku can be a pansy, but he can also be awfully protective when it comes to those books," said Kagome, taking out a needle and thread.

She began stitching up the holes in her shirt, and InuYasha noticed that his older half-brother was nowhere to be seen.

"Where's Teme-sama?" he asked, looking around.

"He went out early. You know how he is," said Kagome.

InuYasha really _didn't_ know how his aniki (older brother) was, because they hardly spent 'brotherly' time together. His brother's behavior baffled him, and Sesshoumaru seemed to want to keep it that way. How Kagome knew how Sesshoumaru _was_, was a mystery as well.

"So, what are we supposed to do today? Wait around?" asked InuYasha, stretching his arms.

"I guess so," said Kagome, tying a knot in her thread.

"Booorrrrinnnggg," said InuYasha, rolling his eyes.

"Un," agreed Kagome, as she began sewing up the other hole in her shirt.

InuYasha sat on the couch in the middle of the room and kicked his legs up in the air. When that didn't entertain him, he turned over onto his belly and drummed his fingers. Then he flipped over on his side and glared at the floor. All of this was done in the space of five minutes. Kagome sighed.

"If you're that bored, take a walk around the tower. They didn't say that you couldn't," she offered.

"Keh," was the answer.

Kagome tied a knot in the thread that she was using. Then she unfolded the shirt and put it on. She looked down at the patch-job that she had done, and was satisfied. The thread she had used was a different shade of blue than her shirt, but it blended in well enough. The blood was a faint color now, but InuYasha had been right; the water had stained the silk. Oh, well.

She unwrapped the bandages under her shirt, rolled them back up, and placed them in her kunai pouch; she had already disposed of the bloody bandages that she had used to wrap up her shoulder.

Just then, Miroku woke up. He blinked sleepily and yawned. His eyes bleary, he looked around. And noticed something was missing. Now quite awake, Miroku looked around among his belongings, under his futon and his pillow, and his gaze fell on InuYasha. The silver-haired ninja was sitting up now, with his elbows on his knees.

Grinning nastily and holding up Icha Icha Paradise, InuYasha said, "Looking for this?"

Miroku's face turned a variety of colors. First he went very pale, then green, and then red with anger. He stood up.

Holding out his hand, he said, "Give it back, InuYasha."

"Not a chance. Now that I have it, you have to do what I say," said InuYasha smugly.

Kagome watched this exchange in silence; something was going to happen, she knew it.

Turning even redder and reaching for the glove that covered his right hand, Miroku said coldly, "I said, give it back, InuYasha. NOW."

"You wouldn't," said InuYasha, staring at Miroku's hand.

"Oh, I would," said Miroku, smirking at InuYasha's suddenly pale face.

"Demo…your book would get sucked up!" said InuYasha, standing up.

"Kagome-sama could always _retrieve_ it for me, if I asked nicely enough. I don't know about you, though," said Miroku, thoroughly enjoying himself.

Before the other occupants of the room could blink, InuYasha had dashed across the room, thrown open the shoji-screen door, and run down the hall.

"Oi! Give me back my book, or I really _will_ suck you up!" shouted Miroku angrily, taking off in pursuit.

Kagome sighed and stood up. She walked out the door with her hands in her pockets, but made sure that she shut the door on her way out.

'_I better find those two before they cause _too_ much trouble,_' she thought with exasperation.

-o-o-o-

Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura were sitting around a campfire, eating fish that they had cooked. Naruto was enjoying his immensely and thinking of nothing else, while the others were thinking of less welcoming things.

"It may be possible that there are no more Ten no makimono," said Sakura sadly.

"What do you mean, Sakura?" asked Sasuke, glancing at her. (3)

"Four out of the allotted five days for the Second Exam has already passed. That means we used up eighty percent of the time for the exam already. Total participants – eighty-seven. Or twenty-nine teams. There are only sixteen Ten and Chi makimono and only sixteen teams can pass," explained Sakura.

Naruto looked up from his fish in realization.

"On top of that, you remember, right, Sasuke-kun…? That Orochimaru guy burned our Ten no Sho."

Sasuke nodded and said, "That means…"

"When he did that, only fifteen teams can pass now. Also, there's no guarantee that the other makimono are safe," said Sakura glumly.

Sasuke looked at their Chi scroll and said, "After we split up from the other Konoha guys, we used two days to recuperate from our wounds. We'll need to increase the distance we move in a day. The next enemy we meet could be our last chance."

He stood, holding one of their water canteens, and said, "I'll go get some drinking mizu (water)."

Naruto and Sasuke watched as he walked off, and Naruto glanced at their scroll.

He picked it up and said, "Ano sa, ano sa!"

Sakura glanced at him, and saw that he was hunched over with his mouth shielded, as if he wanted to speak a secret.

"I have a good way and it doesn't require us to fight," he said in a high whisper.

"Eh?" said Sakura, looking at him in confusion.

-o-o-o-

Kagome still hadn't found her teammates, and she was still on the floor that their room was on. She wasn't that concerned about them, truth be told. Considering they were in a tower and not out in a forest full of enemies…oh wait, there _were_ enemies in the tower. But they wouldn't dare do anything with all of the Jounin around.

Whistling between her teeth, Kagome walked on, taking her time. Miroku would eventually catch InuYasha, because he was smarter than the latter. It would end pretty quickly, since InuYasha didn't want to be sucked up into Miroku's Kazaana (Wind Tunnel).

The Kazaana was the kekkei genkai of the Kazetani clan. Basically, the Kazaana was a hole in the hand that could be opened and closed at will, but when opened, it pulled everything in its path into it. It primarily appeared in the firstborn males in the clan, but it was not unknown to appear in child after the firstborn, or even in females. Miroku was an only child, and the Kazaana had appeared early in him. He had been six months old when he had first activated the Kazaana, and his parents had had to put a seal over his hand until he was old enough to control it.

Kagome grunted in surprise when the door next to her slid open. She froze when she saw who was behind it.

-o-o-o-

Kankurou marched to the door of the room he was sharing with his sister, Gaara, and their sensei, Baki. For whatever reason, Gaara was feeling restless, and Baki had ordered Kankurou and his sister to accompany Gaara on a walk. Kankurou had wanted to tell Baki to stuff it, mostly because he would rather drink his own urine than walk with Gaara, but also because it sounded like he was being asked to take a dog for a walk or to baby-sit a little kid.

He froze when Gaara cut in front of him. If it had been anybody else, Kankurou would have yelled or used brute strength to get them out of the way. But Gaara killed people just because he felt like it, so Kankurou didn't want to get on his bad side.

Their sister came up behind Kankurou, and Gaara slid the shoji door open. They were surprised to see someone outside their door, apparently on a walk of their own. And though Kankurou had seen this person only once and at a distance, he recognized her.

"You…" he said.

-o-o-o-

InuYasha had been hiding in a vacant room on the floor beneath their own, and was listening for Miroku. He had considered just destroying the book then and there, but that would have pissed Miroku off so badly that he would have not even bothered to use his kekkei genkai, which gave InuYasha a chance. He would have chopped InuYasha into little bits and hid them in the walls of the tower.

"Kuso, all over a stupid book," InuYasha muttered to himself.

"I happen to like it," said an angry voice behind him.

InuYasha jumped and slowly looked behind him. He sweatdropped profusely when he saw an outraged Miroku standing there with his arms crossed.

"How did you…?" said InuYasha, and then noticed there was a door open to an adjoining room.

'_Some shinobi you are…_' he thought, eyebrow twitching with disbelief. (4)

"Give…me…my…book…!" said Miroku slowly and menacingly.

"Not on your life!" said InuYasha, jerking open the door and running back out into the hall.

Miroku gave an angry shout behind him, but he just kept running. This game was actually quite fun and amusing to InuYasha. It was funny to see the normally calm Miroku pissed off, and InuYasha wanted it to last. As long as Miroku didn't catch him…

InuYasha was so preoccupied in his thoughts that he ran into something as he went around a corner. With an 'oof!' he fell to the floor with an audible 'thump!'. Knowing whom he had run into, InuYasha looked up with dread.

Miroku looked very, very angry.

"InuYasha, I'm going to ask you one more time before I resort to violence. Give me my book," said Miroku, angry tick marks all over his face.

"I'm never giving you back this book! I'm sick of hearing you giggling like a stupid little girl every time you read it!" said InuYasha.

"That's it!" shouted Miroku, and he actually tackled the other on the ground.

InuYasha yelled at Miroku to get off as the houshi's hands tried to get at the Icha Icha book. Miroku punched, poked, and jabbed at InuYasha, and the other did just the same, except there was also pushing involved.

"Get the hell off of me, teme!" shouted InuYasha, pushing Miroku.

"Not until you give me back my book!" yelled Miroku, practically groping InuYasha in his search for his Icha Icha Paradise.

"GET OFF!" demanded InuYasha, and finally managed to jab his knee into Miroku's 'family jewels'.

Miroku gasped at the pain and held himself, while InuYasha pulled himself out from underneath the houshi.

"Get back here," said Miroku weakly, as InuYasha began to run away.

"You'll have to catch me first!" InuYasha called to him.

-o-o-o-

"You…" said the boy with the kabuki face paint, and wearing a Sunagakure hitai-ite.

Kagome recognized all three, but she especially recognized the redhead. Her heart was pounding as she looked at him.

"Oh, have we met?" asked Kagome nervously, beginning to back away.

"Iie, but you were the girl getting chased by dogs, ne?" asked Kabuki-Face.

"Hai," said Kagome, smiling nervously and taking another step back.

The redhead was glaring at her, but that seemed to be his normal expression. The dark-blonde girl kept glancing at the redhead, as if waiting for him to react.

"Ano, I have to get going now, so I guess I'll see you later," said Kagome, edging away.

Kabuki-Face looked surprised as she turned and walked away, shoulders stiff. Kagome was anticipating an attack from the redhead, but it never came. Once she got around a nearby corner, she broke into a dead run in an effort to put as much distance between her and the redhead. She didn't like the scent that hung around him; it smelled like blood.

Kagome reached the stairwell to the floor below, but was running so fast that she knocked heads with the person that was running up them. She fell back on her behind and rubbed her forehead, groaning as stars exploded behind her eyes. Blinking, she saw that she had run into none other than InuYasha, who was rubbing his forehead, as well.

"Itai… Gaki! Miroku's pissed! I kneed him in the crotch and now he's after me big time!" he said urgently.

Kagome looked up at him, a little dazed. Once her head cleared, she stood.

"You _kneed _Miroku? That sounds so girly," she muttered.

Then she took in a big breath to start yelling at him.

"InuYasha! You ran into me and didn't apologize! And can't you call me by my actual name, for once! It wouldn't kill you, you know!" shouted Kagome.

"Nani! You ran into me! And when you have my respect, I'll call you by your name!" yelled InuYasha.

"_Respect?_ You mean you have to earn _mine_!" Kagome yelled angrily, shaking her fist at him.

"Do not!"

"Do too!"

"_Do not!_"

"_Do too!_"

"DO NOT!"

"DO TOO!"

"Gaki!"

"Yarou (asshole)!"

"_Gaki!_"

"_Yarou!_"

"GAKI!"

"OSUWARI!"

InuYasha's eyes bugged out when he realized what she had just said. The rosary around his neck glowed, and pulled him down. Since he was standing right on the landing above the stairs, it wasn't a surprise that InuYasha fell back down the stairwell, just as Kagome had planned. Panting from all of her yelling, Kagome listened as InuYasha yelled, and then fell into someone. Hopefully, that someone was Miroku, and Kagome had just taught them both a lesson.

"Serves you right! Ha!" said Kagome loudly, pointing down the stairs.

"Ano, can we go down the stairs?" asked a female voice behind her.

Kagome froze and looked behind her. There were those three Sunagakure nin again! The redhead looked like he was about to kill her.

"Hai! Of course! Let me just see if the way's clear for you!" she said, laughing nervously.

She ran down the stairs at top speed and nearly tripped over the motionless bodies of InuYasha and, to her relief, Miroku. At least it hadn't been anyone else that InuYasha had knocked over.

As quick as she could, Kagome grabbed each of them by the foot and dragged them out of the way. She propped each of them up by the wall and felt their pulses. They were alive, what a relief. At least she didn't have to explain _that_ one to her sensei.

"Oi! Wake up!" said Kagome, lightly slapping Miroku on his cheeks.

He groaned but didn't open his eyes.

"This is what you get for acting like a bunch of gaki," said Kagome, standing and sighing.

The sound of footsteps alerted her that the Suna nin had come down the stairs. She stayed as still as possible, barely even breathing, as the redhead went by her. As long she didn't provoke that _guy_, she'd still be alive by the time they passed.

"Did you kill them?" asked the blonde girl as she went by Kagome.

"Iie! Don't worry! I can handle this!" said Kagome, smiling nervously up at the blonde.

The blonde girl shrugged and then grunted in surprise when the redhead stopped. Kagome's breath stuck in her throat when he turned his head slightly and glanced out of the corner of his teal eyes at her. Then he looked ahead and kept going. The other two looked confused, but didn't say anything.

Once the Suna nin were out of sight, Kagome dug into InuYasha's shirt and retrieved the now-battered copy of Icha Icha Paradise. Miroku was starting to wake up, so she shoved the book into his chest.

"Oof! What are you doing?" groaned Miroku, blinking blearily.

"Help me get him up! Before the redheaded Suna nin comes back!" Kagome hissed.

Miroku was wide-awake now, and had turned an unsightly shade of green. He staggered to his feet, caught his book as it fell from his chest, and stuck it in the band of his hakama. Then he slung InuYasha over his shoulder, and both he and Kagome ran back upstairs to their room.

-o-o-o-

'_Why didn't Gaara kill that girl? She was making enough noise to irritate him,_' wondered Kankurou.

They were on the second floor down from their own, and Gaara still seemed as restless as before.

Kankurou was wondering why the girl had acted so jumpy around them. She hadn't seen Gaara in one of his 'moods', had she? Impossible, they had kept an eye on him twenty-four seven, and they hadn't seen her during the trip in the forest. Perhaps she had been one of the people hiding in the bushes that Kankurou hadn't especially cared about?

"Temari," said Gaara.

Their sister froze.

"H-hai, Gaara?" responded 'Temari'.

"Get me that girl's name," said Gaara, not even looking at her.

"Un," she said, sweating slightly.

Temari and Kankurou exchanged confused glances. _Gaara_ was interested in a girl? Had the world gone totally crazy? Gaara was rarely interested in anyone, and the most recent one had been that Uchiha Sasuke, obviously a strong opponent. The girl hadn't really done anything worth mentioning, besides making her teammate fall to the ground by saying just one word, which was a little odd.

Why was Gaara interested in a girl?

-o-o-o-

Later, back in the room he shared with his siblings, Gaara was having a conversation. It was about the encounter that he had had with that black-haired girl in the hallway, the one that he had sat next to during the First Exam; the only reason that he remembered her was because she had seemed really tense while being in his proximity, and had not even looked in his direction. _That_ had piqued his curiosity for a moment; it was as if she had been trying hard to not provoke him.

'_Kaa-san, why do you want to know about that girl?_' Gaara asked the being sealed within him.

'**She interests me. If she is what I think she is, then she will make you a fine partner,**' said 'Kaa-san'.

'_"Partner"?_' repeated Gaara.

'**Sou...**'

Gaara wondered what type of partner 'Kaa-san' meant, but he stayed silent. He didn't like it when 'Kaa-san' got mad at him, after all.

-o-o-o-

"Itai!" yelped Miroku, as Kagome dabbed at his forehead with a wet washcloth.

He had received a cut on his head when he had been knocked backwards by a falling InuYasha.

"Don't be such a baby. Both of you are lucky that you didn't get concussions," stated Kagome.

InuYasha was still unconscious, and was lying on the futon provided for him. Kagome didn't plan on waking him up anytime soon.

"Kagome-sama, that boy with the red hair…" began Miroku, and Kagome stiffened.

"I saw him kill three shinobi in Shi no Mori without any remorse or mercy. He actually seemed to enjoy it!" said Miroku.

"Un. I figured he was like that. That's why I was avoiding him when I encountered him earlier," muttered Kagome.

She began sewing up the cut on his forehead, seeing as how it was gaping open like a cave. Miroku winced a couple of times, and sighed in relief when she tied the ends of thread together.

"Mataku…why don't you just use your reiki to heal it?" asked Miroku, prodding around his injury gingerly.

Kagome slapped his hand away from it and said, "Because I don't want to waste it on such a trivial injury that can heal fine by itself. Besides, you have reiki of your own, don't you?"

"I don't have as much as you have! Besides, I can only use it to power my ofuda, not heal," said Miroku dejectedly.

Kagome stood and went over to her bag. She put away her first-aid utensils and also put away her needle and thread. Then she stretched, the vertebrae in her back popping.

"I'm going to get us some food, hopefully," said Kagome, making her way to the door.

"Matte! What about him?" asked Miroku, gesturing at InuYasha's form.

Kagome glared at her adopted aniki and said, "There's nothing wrong with him. He just bumped his head."

Then she turned and slid open the shoji door. Miroku sweatdropped as she slammed it shut on her way out. She must have been very angry with InuYasha. Once her footsteps had faded away, Miroku stuck his hand into his waistband and drew out his Icha Icha Paradise.

"My poor darling, I'll never leave you again!" he cried, rubbing the book against his cheek lovingly.

-o-o-o-

This time around, Kagome made sure to take the other route to the stairs. There was no way in hell she was going to go past that redhead's room. If she had even dared, people would have either called her very brave, or very stupid. Kagome preferred to be very smart, and keep as much distance between him and her as possible.

"Do they even _have_ a kitchen to raid in this place?" Kagome wondered out loud to herself, ruffling her hair.

She realized that it was starting to get too long. It hung to her shoulders now, and smelled of leftover slug blood, dirt, and leaves. The normally silver-blue tips glinted dully in the light. Shrugging, she figured that she'd cut it once she had found some food.

Poking her head around a corner of a hall, she checked to see if the coast was clear. She sighed in relief when she saw that nobody was in sight. Taking a deep breath, she made a mad dash to the stairwell at the end, and ran down them. What she didn't expect was for someone to be waiting for her at the bottom of them.

Kagome gasped in surprise when she nearly ran into the dark-blonde girl that had accompanied the redheaded boy. The blonde smirked when she saw what Kagome had been doing.

"Scared of Gaara, ne? I don't blame you," she said, still smirking.

"You'd be scared too, if you felt what kind of aura he has," muttered Kagome, figuring 'Gaara' was the redhead's name.

The blonde's face was temporarily confused at the word 'aura', but then returned to its former smirk. She stood from where she had been leaning against the wall in ambush, and the smirk disappeared.

"I didn't come down here to chat. I came down here to ask you for your name," said the blonde seriously.

"My name? Doushite (why)?" asked Kagome, blinking in confusion.

"Because Gaara wants to know," explained the blonde.

Kagome's heart nearly jumped up out of her mouth. The redhead, Gaara, wanted to know her name? Was he one of those shinobi that wanted to know the name of their victim before killing them? If so, he was doing a strange job of it by telling his teammate to ask her.

"Higurashi… Higurashi Kagome," said Kagome, hoping she'd survive for another day.

The blonde nodded and said, "Yoshi. I'll be going, then."

She began to walk up the stairs, and paused when Kagome called to her.

"Chotto matte! What is your name and the boy's with the face paint?" Kagome asked.

The blonde hesitated.

Finally, she said, "My name is Temari. The boy with the face paint is Kankurou. But the one you should be looking out for is Gaara."

Kagome nodded, and Temari walked back up the stairs. Once she confirmed that the blonde was gone, she slumped against the wall, exhaling. What had she done to piss Kami-sama off this time?

-o-o-o-

"Her name is Higurashi Kagome," reported Temari to her younger brother.

Gaara stared at her with his pale teal eyes and then looked away. She took that as acknowledgement and made herself scarce by sitting beside Kankurou. The older boy kept giving Gaara sidelong looks.

'_Higurashi Kagome, ka? What did you want with her name, Kaa-san?_'

'**Sou ka, she is the one with Kawarubi. That pup let herself get caught and sealed just after she was born. But the girl has potential…**' mused 'Kaa-san'.

Gaara had no idea what 'Kaa-san' was talking about, but then again, he rarely did. 'Kaa-san' was just making less sense than usual, was all.

-o-o-o-

Kagome was running from the head cook from the kitchens. Her arms were full of fruit and bread, as well as some cheese. She held a red apple in her mouth, making her look like a Hawaiian roast pig.

"Don't you dare come back here again, you hear me? If you want something to eat, ask for it or wait for dinner!" shouted the cook.

The kunoichi didn't dare look back. She wanted to make it back to the room without running into anybody. Seeing as how she had snuck into the kitchen and stolen the food, she reckoned that she'd be in pretty big trouble if she ran into any Jounin, especially her sensei. He usually didn't like it when she stole food, even if it was from their own kitchen back home. Unfortunately, luck was _not_ on Kagome's side today.

As Kagome rounded a corner, she spotted Kakashi and Mitarashi Anko speaking together in the hall. She stopped short when she spotted them. She had enough luck to keep hold of her stolen booty, but not enough to keep the apple in her mouth from falling out. The apple hit the floor with a 'thump!' making the two Jounin look up in surprise.

Kagome slowly chewed the chunk of apple that had come off into her mouth. Her eyes were wide as saucers as she stared at the Jounin, who stared back. Swallowing the piece of apple, her eyes dropped slowly to its source on the floor between them. And, at that moment, her stomach chose to growl loudly. Kagome sweatdropped, her forehead turning blue with exasperation.

Mitarashi Anko relaxed a little and blinked. She had been afraid that this girl had been listening in on their conversation, but it appeared that she had just happened upon her and Kakashi. Kakashi looked surprised, as well.

Kagome stared at the apple on the floor. It had been an unexpectedly tasty apple, too. But she also had an armful of food that she needed to bring back to her companions so that they got proper nourishment. Old lessons that she had learned on the street kicked in: In order to keep what she was holding, she would have to leave the apple.

_***Flashback**__*_

_Four year-old Kagome was being beat up by a couple of men. A small piece of bread was clutched between her hands, which were folded as close to her curled-up body as close as she could possibly bring them. She took the blows willingly, as long as her precious piece of bread wasn't snatched away._

_The bread had come out of a garbage can, and it had seemed to be freshly dumped. It hadn't been full of worms, only stale. So Kagome had taken the bread, but the men that lived in the house behind which the garbage can sat had seen her. They were probably father and son, seeing how they looked similar and one was older than the other._

"_How dare you steal from us, you piece of filth!" shouted the older man, as he kicked Kagome in the ribs._

"_Give back what you stole!" shouted the younger one._

_Kagome said nothing, but lay curled up tightly into a ball, her eyes screwed shut. The men continued their onslaught, but she didn't budge, or even make a sound._

"What are you doing?_" came a voice from the backdoor of the men's house._

_The two men stopped and looked up, only to see an older woman standing framed in the doorway. Her eyes were wide and she was gaping in shock._

"_Are you beating up a child? How could you!" said the woman._

"_Demo, she stole from us! From the garbage can!" said the younger boy._

"_I don't care if she stole from us! She's welcome to take whatever she wants from that damn trashcan! Get back inside!" shouted the older woman._

_The younger man went back inside, and the older man followed begrudgingly. He shot the woman an angry look, who gave him one of her own. Once the men were inside, the woman gave Kagome a pitying glance, and then went back into the house._

_Kagome slowly uncurled from her ball, wincing as her body screamed with pain. Her ribs felt as if they had been broken, and some of them probably had been. But that didn't matter. A trickle of blood came from the corner of Kagome's mouth as she looked down happily at her prize. She finally had food._

_***End Flashback**__*_

Kakashi was reminded of a dog raising its hackles as the Higurashi girl tensed and glared at them. She seemed to be daring him or Anko to take away what she had in her hands. Anko didn't seem perturbed, since she walked over, retrieved the girl's apple, and rubbed it clean on her sleeve.

"Here you are," said Anko, holding out the apple to Kagome.

Kagome took one look at the apple and snatched it away – she somehow managed to hold the rest of the food by cradling it in one arm – from Anko in a movement so fast that neither Jounin anticipated it. The girl immediately looked ashamed.

"Sumimasen. Arigatou," she muttered, suddenly very interested in the big toe on her right foot.

"You'd better get along to your room. The rest of the participating Genin should be arriving later, so you should rest," said Kakashi.

Kagome nodded and bowed first to Anko, then to him. She hurried past them both and ran up the nearby stairs, her eyes still locked on her feet. When they didn't hear her anymore, and Kakashi didn't smell her anymore, they relaxed a little bit more.

"I thought an enemy had snuck up on us. But she looked as surprised to see us as we were to see her," said Anko, smirking slightly.

"Un. She was probably just raiding the kitchen. There's always one every exam that does that, if they're clever enough to find where the food is cooked," agreed Kakashi.

Anko nodded and then furrowed her brow, tapping her lower lip with her index finger.

"Demo… She looked like she thought we were going to take her food away from her. What a strange shoujo," she mused.

Kakashi silently agreed that the girl was strange, but he really hadn't found it strange that the girl was fighting for her food. The older girl that Higurashi Kagome had confronted had said that Kagome had lived on the streets. And life was hard when you had no home and had to fight for survival.

And there was another thing. Hadn't the girl's hair been shorter a week ago? By about an inch?

-o-o-o-

Being greeted by the stoic face of Sesshoumaru wasn't a happy moment when Kagome slid open the shoji door to their room. She gulped when his golden eyes slid down to what she had in her arms and narrowed.

"I see that you haven't matured at all while you were in the forest," he commented, and Kagome's anger spiked.

She reined it in and strode past him. InuYasha was up and awake now, though he was massaging a sore head. He shot her a dirty look when he saw that she had come back, while Miroku waved happily for a moment before returning to his beloved book.

"I brought food. Enjoy," muttered Kagome, before setting down the food and laying on her futon.

She covered herself with her blanket and snuggled into the soft mattress.

"Ano, Kagome-sama? Why are you going to bed so early? It's not even five in the afternoon!" commented Miroku.

"Leave me alone. I'm tired," muttered Kagome.

Miroku and InuYasha exchanged worried glances. Was Kagome getting sick? She never got sick, except when you gave her chocolate! (5) Sesshoumaru said nothing, but sat down at his place beside the wall.

"Keh, maybe you should have trained more, instead of wasting your time making friends," said InuYasha.

That was _it_! She had had enough of InuYasha's big fat mouth today, and it was going to end _now_!

"Miroku, can you hand me my bag?" asked Kagome drowsily.

Miroku glanced to his right and saw that her bag was nearby. He handed it to her, expecting something to happen.

"InuYasha, you need to learn to hold still," said Kagome casually, before charging a paralysis ofuda she had made with her reiki and slapping it on InuYasha's forehead.

InuYasha's eyes nearly popped out and rolled onto the floor like marbles; his eyes were _that_ big. He couldn't move! He could still breathe and talk, though.

"Why you–!" began InuYasha, before Kagome slapped a silence ofuda over his mouth.

There was a moment of blessed silence, and Kagome sighed with relief.

"Ahh… So much better… I can sleep now," she muttered, before her eyes slid closed; she didn't feel very hungry anymore.

-o-o-o-

_***Dream Sequence**__*_

_Kagome was standing in the middle of a field, which she instantly recognized as the clearing she had woke up in without any memories. It was quiet, and the only sounds were the chirping of crickets and the sounds of owls hooting, considering it was evening._

_The sound of a bush moving made Kagome spin around, and she watched in shock and astonishment as a little girl came run out of the nearby woods. The little girl came up almost to her hip, and had silver-blue streaks in her hair. As she got closer, Kagome could see that her eyes were a deep, sapphire blue. Mind reeling, Kagome took a step back. _She was looking at HERSELF_._

_The younger Kagome didn't see her older version and ran right on past, before tripping over a log. She stumbled and fell, and began to cry as she held her ankle. Already, Kagome could see the swelling and could tell that her younger self had sprained it._

_Another sound came now, the sound of shouting and many running feet. Turning back where the child had come from, Kagome could see torches flickering in the forest. The child had heard as well, as she tried to stand on her sprained ankle and fell back down with a cry of pain. Now that she couldn't walk, she began to crawl._

"_There she is!" shouted a male voice, and soon the whole clearing was filled with men holding torches._

_A woman pushed her way through the throng of men and stood in front of them. Kagome recognized the traditional miko clothes that the woman wore. And it was also the woman from her previous dream, the one with the cruel face and the blue eyes._

"_Kaa-san! Onegai, I haven't done anything wrong! I've always tried to be a good girl! Kaa-san, onegai!" cried the little girl in terror._

_Several of the men gave the miko woman a questioning glance, but she had an excuse ready and made._

"_Do not listen to its trickery! It is an oni, and therefore it must be killed in order to save hundreds of lives! Kill it!" ordered the miko in a cold voice._

_The men hesitated a little, wondering why the oni was calling the miko 'kaa-san', but began to charge towards the little girl when they received a look from the miko. The little girl huddled in a ball and covered her face with her arms._

"_IIE!" shouted the little girl._

_*__**End Dream Sequence**__*_

Kagome sat up with a start, bathed in a cold sweat. She was panting heavily, and her heart was racing.

"Kagome-sama! Daijoubu?" asked Miroku, who had apparently woken up.

"You cried out in your sleep," muttered InuYasha, who was rubbing his eyes.

"Daijoubu (I'm okay), demo… How are you moving and speaking?" asked Kagome.

"The ofuda wore off. It took about four hours for both of them to lose their power. I thought you knew that," said InuYasha, shooting her a grumpy look.

"Go to sleep," came Sesshoumaru's voice.

Miroku immediately obeyed, and InuYasha followed, though he muttered something about not being a little kid anymore. Kagome gladly lay back down, but the dream remained vividly in her mind. She couldn't go back to sleep, because she kept wondering if what she had seen in her dream were true. And she realized she had headache.

-o-o-o-

Naruto and his team walked up to the tower, and Sakura was supporting Sasuke with an arm around his shoulder. Yakushi Kabuto followed them. The older boy had helped them, first by preventing Naruto and Sakura from opening their Chi no Sho, but also by fighting with them to help secure them a Ten no Sho.

Kabuto glanced behind him in surprise when he saw his other two teammates emerge from the forest.

"It's just you all… You're late, Kabuto," said one of them that looked like he had empty eye sockets.

"I was caught up in some trouble. Sumimasen," explained Kabuto as he joined them and stood next to one of the red pairs of doors.

"Heh, demo sa (but), demo sa, thanks to you, we got the two makimono," said Naruto, standing with his hands behind his head.

"Iie, it's because of your hard work. Especially that last move; it was incredible, Naruto-kun," said Kabuto. (6)

Naruto grinned and laughed under Kabuto's praise. Sasuke stared at Kabuto, because he didn't believe that Kabuto was helping them just to be nice.

"We'll go through this door. Good look to us," said Kabuto.

Naruto grunted in agreement, and Kabuto smiled, giving him a thumbs-up. Naruto grinned again. Team Seven went through their door, while Kabuto's team went through their own.

As Kabuto stepped into the room inside, a chillingly familiar voice said, "Got anything?"

"Yes, more than I expected. I've written down all the data pertaining to him from the Second Exam. You need this, right?" said Kabuto, holding up one of his information cards.

He held out the card and the other voice asked, "So, how was he?"

A pale, white hand took the card and Kabuto chuckled, saying, "Looks like you're fond of him, Orochimaru-sama."

Orochimaru leaned against the wall and was looking at the card that Kabuto had given him.

"I want to hear your opinion… As a spy from Otogakure," said Orochimaru.

"You don't need that… Since you're the one that will determine everything," said Kabuto, placing a hand over the cut across his nose.

When he moved his hand away, the cut was gone; he had either healed it or it had never been there to begin with. Kabuto smirked at Orochimaru.

Pushing himself away from the wall, Orochimaru said, "Your cunningness is what I like."

Then the hebi nin (snake ninja) disappeared in a swirl of smoke.

"Good job," his voice said, even though his body was not longer there.

-o-o-o-

"What are you doing?" asked InuYasha, giving Kagome a weird look.

The kunoichi was currently kneeling on the floor. One hand was holding her hair back, while the other held a kunai.

"What the hell does it look like I'm doing? I cutting my hair!" growled Kagome, a tick mark appearing on her forehead.

InuYasha took one look at the dark circles under her eyes and decided to leave her alone. Ever since he had woken up this morning, she had been unusually grouchy and seemed to be sulking about something.

With one swift cut, about two inches of hair was docked from Kagome's head. Now it was about the same length it had been when they had arrived in Konohagakure. Kagome stuffed the hair she had cut into one of her pockets, earning her a weird look from both InuYasha and Miroku; Sesshoumaru had gone off somewhere, _again_.

"What else am I supposed to do with it?" she asked, "I can't just leave it laying around. Some ninja might have a jutsu that requires DNA from someone in order to work. And burning it won't work either, because the tips are fire-proof."

InuYasha had a sudden weird vision of Kagome dashing into a burning house, wearing a suit made out of the tips of her hair. Kagome must have caught the look on his face, which was exceptionally zoned-out, because she took off one of her sandals and threw it at his head.

"Itai! What the hell was that for?" shouted InuYasha, since he had already had a bit of a sore head.

"For looking stupid," said Kagome simply.

Miroku sighed, earning him equally grumpy looks from both teammates.

'_They're at it again… Sometimes I wonder if they are actually related, since they sometimes act alike,_' thought Miroku.

Kagome retrieved her sandal and put it on, just as the shoji door slid open. Everyone glanced with surprise as Sesshoumaru entered.

"Ikuzou (let's go). The Second Exam is over, and it's time for the Third Exam to start," said the stoic Jounin.

_**Owari**_

-o-o-o-

**Omake: Where Did Sesshoumaru Keep Disappearing To?**

Ever since he was very young, Sesshoumaru's father had instructed him in how important it was to train. Starting at the age of three, his father had begun teaching him in nindou (the way of the ninja), and had been there to make sure that his son trained for a certain amount of time everyday.

Sesshoumaru's mother died of the flu shortly after he began training, but she had been proud of her son. It was hard to understand death at such an early age, and it was hard to understand why he received a new mother shortly after the death of his real one. He soon had a new little brother, but he wasn't very interested in the chubby, grub-like thing that only cried and couldn't even talk. Sesshoumaru became devoted to his training.

That was why he was now in one of the empty training rooms in the tower, practicing with his swords. He had received a second one when he turned eighteen, called Toukijin ('Demon Fighting God'). And he was currently doing his kata ('form(s)').

A giggle brought him up short. He paused and listened, but it didn't come again. He continued to practice, but stopped again when another giggle came. This time, he could pinpoint the source.

Marching over to the shoji doors of the training room, he slid the doors open quickly. He blinked. There was a group of kunoichi standing out there, ages ranging from twelve to around twenty-something. One of them was that red-eyed Jounin kunoichi from the waiting room. They all blushed and some of them tittered, and some of them looked like they really didn't want to be there, probably dragged along by friends. Sesshoumaru recognized Hanakami Kikyou and Kumonosu Kagura.

Rolling his eyes, Sesshoumaru stepped out of the room and began walking down the hall. He was in the process in sheathing Toukijin when he heard something both disturbing and irritating.

"His ass sure is kawaii," one of the girls said.

Sesshoumaru stopped in his tracks. He wasn't aware that anyone could make out the shape of his ass in the sashinuki hakama he was wearing, and couldn't stand the fact that someone thought it was 'kawaii'. Turning slowly, he shot the best glare he had at the group of kunoichi.

He was satisfied that some of them even ran at the force of his glare, while some of the older girls stood their ground but sweatdropped. He sheathed Toukijin into its saya and kept walking. He was still in a fairly bad mood, since he hated it when girls drooled over him. (7)

-o-o-o-

**Vocabulary**

Ofuda – a talisman inscribed with the name of a kami (god), etc., written usually on paper. In this story, they can be charged with reiki and can do various purposes, depending on what is inscribed on them, when thrown at an enemy

**Author's Notes**

(1) Kinda lame, considering it came from Cardcaptor Sakura (which I happen to like -_-;), but I wanted this to be a 'soft' chapter

(2) IF YOU ARE A GUY, DON'T READ THIS UNLESS YOU WANT TO. Girls, my mom made me start wearing a bra in the _third grade_. I didn't even start wearing it regularly until the end of my fourth grade year, when I actually started ***cough*** developing!

(3) Sasuke can be so dumb sometimes

(4) InuYasha had no right to say this, considering that Miroku managed to sneak up on him

(5) She has an inuyoukai sealed in her, and chocolate is really bad for dogs

(6) Is he trying to seem noble or something? 'Cuz it ain't working

(7) This is why he was mean to Kagome when she came back with food. He was still mad about someone calling his butt 'kawaii' LOL :D

-o-o-o-

Taa-daa! I wrote an in-between chapter to give Naruto and the others time to catch up! And Kagome has met Gaara, kind of. Please review, since I love reading them! By the way, don't count _anyone_ out (except for girls and boys younger than twelve, or just plain old guys ***cough*** the Hokage ***cough***) for guessing who Kagome will get a crush on.

Kagura's last name 'Kumonosu' means 'spider web'.

Ja ne! ^.^


	9. Chapter VIII: Preliminaries Part I

Ahhh… Someone (possibly some_ones_) finally guessed it right! But who? Bwahahaha! I noticed that no one was guessing Sasuke, and I was thinking 'Yeah, he's an emo maniac, but he is still good-looking'. I don't especially like Sasuke; he's too screwed-up and selfish.

Disclaimer: I am still hiding from the cops, but I can't tell you where. Rest assured, I have a computer that enables me to write more chapters. But I still have to say I don't own InuYasha or Naruto so that I don't get caught

**Ages:**

Gekkou Hayate – 23

Sarutobi Hiruzen (Sandaime) – 69

Orochimaru – 50

Yuuhi Kurenai – 27

Sarutobi Asuma – 28

Baki – 30

Kumonosu Kagura – 16

Kumonosu Naraku – 19

Kumonosu Hakudoushi – 12

Kumonosu Kanna – 12

Akadou Yoroi – 23

Tsurugi Misumi – 23

"talking"

'_thinking_'

'**Bijuu talking to host**'

**Chapter Eight: Preliminaries (Part I)**

-o-o-o-

Fukai fukai mori no oku ni, ima mo kitto  
Okizari ni shita kokoro, kakushiteru yo  
Sagasu hodo no chikara mo naku, tsukarehateta  
Hitobito wa eien no, yami ni kieru  
Chisai mama nara, kitto, ima demo mieta ka na

I'm sure that the heart I left behind  
Still lies hidden in the heart of the deep, deep forest  
Exhausted, without the strength to search  
People vanish into the infinite darkness  
If it's so small, I wonder if I can see it even now?

~ 'Fukai Mori' (InuYasha Ending Theme 2)  
Do As Infinity

-o-o-o-

~A Few Minutes Previously~

Anko was holding the juin on her shoulder, in obvious pain. She had pulled down her coat a little to reveal the fishnet shirt underneath in order to try and lessen her discomfort. The Hokage had finally arrived, and was talking to Anko and the two Chuunin with her, Hagane Kotetsu and Kamizuki Izumo.

"How are you? Does the juin still hurt?" asked the Sandaime.

"Iie, it's gotten better thanks to you," said Anko.

"Isn't Orochimaru one of the Sannin ('three ninja') from the Konoha Legends? He's an S-Class exiled ninja from the bingo book that even ANBU couldn't deal with, right? I heard that he died, demo…" said Izumo.

"Why would he come to this village now…?" mused Kotetsu aloud.

Anko gasped and remembered Orochimaru telling her that he wanted the Uchiha boy.

"It's most likely because…" she trailed off.

"Sasuke, right?" asked the Sandaime, making Anko gasp again.

One of the TVs in the room crackled, making everyone look.

"Anko-sama," said a Chuunin from the TV, "We have confirmed that thirty people passed the Second Exam. According to the Chuunin regulations, we will have to do preliminary matches for the first time in five years. Second Exam completed."

The TV crackled and turned off again. Anko gaped, and the Hokage turned back to her.

"Anyway, we will have to continue the exam. But we will have to see what he is up to at the same time," he said, holding his pipe.

"Hai!" said Anko with fierce determination.

-o-o-o-

~Back to Present Time~

All the teams that had passed were standing in a huge auditorium. In front of them stood the Sandaime Hokage on a slightly higher level of ground, and behind him stood the sensei-tachi (teachers) of the teams that had passed the exam. Other Jounin and Chuunin stood off to the sides on the same level that the examinees were. But behind the sensei-tachi was a huge statue of the arms and hands of a shinobi doing a hand seal.

"First off, congratulations on passing the Second Exam!" called out Anko.

Inside, she was thinking, '_There were eighty-seven people who took the Second Exam, and thirty were able to pass. I said that I was going to make half drop out, but I was really thinking less than ten would be left._' She smirked.

"I'm hungry," Chouji said.

"There's still this many people left? How troublesome," said Shikamaru.

Ino looked back at Team Seven and laughed gleefully, saying, "Sasuke-kun's team passed, too."

"Of course. We went through a lot of trouble helping them. Our efforts would've gone to waste if they didn't pass," Shikamaru told her.

Maito Gai was talking to Kakashi.

"Your team is pretty good. Perhaps they were lucky. But as long as my team is here, they can't go any further. Since, in the next stage, personal abilities will be critical. Youth is sweet and sour, and sometimes strict, Kakashi," said Gai, looking at his 'rival'.

Kakashi looked at him and said, "Hm? Did you say something?"

Gai had a spazz attack, gripping the sides of his temples with his hands. His face was shocked and looked disbelieving.

'_Oh, my god!_' he yelled in his mind.

Kakashi just stared, and Gai turned away from him, trembling with anger and had a clenched fist raised.

'_That was pretty good, rival Kakashi,_' he thought, and flames of anger erupted around him, '_That attitude is somewhat "modern", and pisses me off!_'

Tenten had watched this whole affair from the group of Genin.

'_Eh? So that's Gai-sensei's eternal rival. Gai-sensei completely loses to him in looks, but…_' she thought.

'_Gai-sensei is the coolest one among the other sensei-tachi! He's shining! Yoshi…_' thought Lee.

"Just watch, Gai-sensei! I will shine, too!" said Lee loudly.

'_I never want to see the tears of an important person again… So, I will never lose again, Gai-sensei!_' thought Lee with vigor.

'_The ones that stand out are left, just like I thought_,' mused Neji, and looked at Sasuke.

'_Uchiha Sasuke,_' he thought.

Zaku from Dosu's team was snarling silently at Sasuke.

'_I'm going to get revenge for my arms, Uchiha Sasuke. You can bet on that._'

The sensei of Dosu's team, a man that looked remarkably like Orochimaru (1), smirked at Kabuto, who grunted in acknowledgement.

Temari looked around and thought, '_Only ten teams out of the original twenty-six teams are here._'

Her team's sensei, Baki, looked at Gaara and thought, '_So you're unharmed just like I thought, Gaara._'

Yuuhi Kurenai, who was watching her team, grunted in surprise and thought, '_Akamaru's acting weird._'

Akamaru was trembling and whining softly from his place inside Kiba's jacket. Only his head was poking out. Kiba looked down at him anxiously and then at Gaara's team.

'_The guys from Suna,_' he thought, gritting his teeth.

Hinata was looking at Naruto and pushing the ends of her index fingers together nervously.

'_So Naruto-kun passed, too. I'm glad,_' she thought shyly.

"All the rookies from Konoha are here," said Sakura.

"Hey, hey," said Naruto in a high whisper, "Hokage-jii-chan, Iruka-sensei, and the super brows are here, too. Feels like everyone important is here."

Sasuke gripped near the juin on his neck and said, "I don't have a good feeling about it, though."

'_Man, Kagome looks like shit. I wonder how much sleep she got last night,_' thought InuYasha as he looked at Kagome's haggard appearance.

'_When will they just tell us what to do? I'm about to fall asleep where I'm standing. Demo…I'm glad that Naruto-kun passed,_' thought Kagome, blinking to keep herself awake.

The Sandaime was looking at the group of Genin gathered before him.

'_So this many remained… And most of them are new,_' he thought and glanced back at the Jounin from his village, '_No wonder they recommended them._'

"We will now have an explanation of the Third Exam from Hokage-sama. Everyone listen well!" said Anko loudly.

She turned to the Sandaime and said quietly, "Hokage-sama, please do the honors."

He sighed in agreement and walked forward.

Clearing his throat, he said, "The Third Exam will begin. But before the explanation, there's one thing I want to make clear to all of you. It's about the true purpose of this exam."

'_True purpose?_' thought Sakura.

"Why we do a joint examination with the allied nations," said the Hokage, gripping the brim of his kasa, "'To maintain good relations with the allied nations' and 'heighten the level of the shinobi'… Do not let those reasons deceive you. This 'exam', so to speak, is…"

'_"So to speak…?"_' thought Tenten.

The Hokage took his pipe out of his mouth and exhaled some smoke. Gaara looked like his expectations of the old man were dwindling.

"…The epitome of a war between the allied nations," finished the Sandaime.

"What do you mean?" asked Tenten, moving slightly to the side so that she could see; Lee was standing in front of her.

"If we go back through history, the allied nations right now were neighboring countries that have fought each other over and over again. To avoid wasting military power, those countries decided to choose a place to fight. That is the beginning of the Chuunin Selection Exam," explained the Hokage.

"Why do we have to do that? We're not doing this to select Chuunin?" asked a shocked Naruto.

"Yes, this exam does examine those who are worthy of the Chuunin title. But, on the other hand, it's also a place where shinobi fight and carry their country's dignity," said the Hokage.

"'Country's dignity?'" said Sakura.

"In this Third Exam," continued the Hokage, "daimyou (feudal lord(s)) and famous people from various countries who may be potential clients are invited here as guests. And daimyou from countries with hidden villages and shinobi leaders will see your battles. If there's a significant difference in power, the strong country will be flooded in jobs. If a country is seen as weak, their jobs will decrease. And at the same time, countries are able to show how their village has grown and possess excellent military power to the adjacent countries. In other words, they can put foreign pressure on them."

"So why do we have to fight with the risk of losing our lives?" asked Kiba, who sounded angry.

"A country's power is the village's power," explained the Hokage, "A village's power is the ninja's power. And a shinobi's true power is only born in life-or-death battle. This exam is also a place to show off the shinobi power of one's country. Since this is an exam where you fight with your life on the line, it has a meaning, and your predecessors have fought and dreamed of being in the Chuunin exam because of it."

"But why do you say it is to promote good relations?" asked Tenten.

"I told you at the beginning to not get it confused with that," said the Hokage with a little bit of irritation, "The custom of shaving one's life and fighting to maintain balance… That is the good relation in the shinobi no sekai (world of shinobi). This is a life-or-death battle for your dream and village's dignity."

There was a moment of silence.

Then Naruto said, "Heh. I understand now."

"I don't care. Tell us the details of this life-or-death exam," said Gaara coldly.

The Sandaime Hokage grunted in agreement, nodding.

"Then I will now begin the explanation of the Third Exam, but," he said, clearing his throat.

Suddenly, one of the Chuunin appeared in front of him, making several people grunt in surprise. The Chuunin was kneeling.

"Excuse me, Hokage-sama. I, Gekkou Hayate, the judge, will explain," said the Chuunin.

"Please do," said the Hokage.

Gekkou Hayate stood and said, "Minna-san, it's nice to meet you,"

He coughed and looked behind him at the Genin.

"Minna-san, before the Third Exam, there's something I want you to do," he said, coughing.

He went into a coughing fit and everyone stared, some with expectation, and some with disbelief.

'_This guy looks like he has tuberculosis,_' thought Kagome, looking at Hayate with a keen eye.

Hayate looked up and smirked.

"Eh, fight in some preliminary matches to see who gets to advance to the Third Exam's main battle," he said.

"Eh?" said Naruto.

"Preliminary matches?" said Sakura.

"Preliminary matches? What do you mean?" yelled Shikamaru, actually sounding truly angry for once.

"Sensei, I don't understand what you mean by preliminary matches. Why can't we just start the Third Exam with the remaining examinees?" asked Sakura.

"Eh, in this case, it must have been because the First and Second Exam were too easy, I don't know, but there are too many examinees left. According to Chuunin regulations, we must decrease the number of participants for the Third Exam," explained Hayate.

"Sou na (oh, no)!" exclaimed Sakura.

"As previously mentioned by Hokage-sama, there are many guests for the Third Exam, so we cannot just have a lot of matches. We are limited on time, as well. So, those who aren't feeling well…" said Hayate, and went off on another coughing fit.

'_Are you okay?_' thought Ino with concern.

'_You seem to be the one who's not feeling well, sensei,_' thought Hinata.

'_Kagome-sama has that look in her eye… She's going to try and heal him at one point…_' thought Miroku, glancing at Kagome out of the corner of his eye.

Once Hayate was done coughing, he said, "Excuse me. If anyone wants to quit after hearing the explanation, please let me know. The preliminary matches will begin immediately."

"Immediately?" shouted Kiba in disbelief.

"But we just got through the Second Exam…" whined Ino.

"How troublesome," said Shikamaru.

"What? What about my meal?" asked Chouji.

Naruto gulped and clenched his fist.

'_Yoshi,_' he thought, '_I'm going to give it my best. I made that promise with Kabuto-san, too._'

"Ah…eh…I forgot to mention this, but you will have one-on-one matches from here on out. So please withdraw if you wish," mentioned Hayate.

'_I'm not going to withdraw…_' thought Sasuke, and flinched when another stab of pain went through the juin on his neck.

He grabbed it and Sakura said, "Sasuke-kun…"

Naruto glanced back at them curiously.

'_The time intervals between the pains are getting shorter,_' Sasuke thought.

'_Sasuke-kun, so you're…_' thought Sakura.

"Sasuke-kun, you should withdraw from the preliminary matches," she said, making both Sasuke and Naruto gasp in surprise.

"Because you've been acting weird ever since that Orochimaru guy beat you. That aza (bruise) hurts even now, right?" asked Sakura quietly.

'_Aza?_' thought Naruto.

"At this rate…" said Sakura, and then remembered when Orochimaru gave Sasuke the juin, and when Sasuke began going after Dosu with it activated.

"Onegai…onegai…stop. I'm afraid," said Sakura, starting to cry and making the other two stare at her.

'_Sakura-chan…_' thought Naruto.

Up on the higher level of ground, the Sandaime, Anko, and Ibiki were watching Sasuke.

"Just as I thought," said the Hokage.

"What should we do?" asked Ibiki.

"We should take him out of the exams, and isolate him with ANBU escorts. We need to advise him to withdraw immediately, and–" began Anko, but was interrupted.

"He's not the type that'll listen to you that easily."

Anko turned to see a smiling Kakashi; at least, he _seemed_ to be smiling.

"He is part of the famous Uchiha clan, after all," said Kakashi.

"Stop fooling around!" yelled Anko angrily, "I'll make him quit even if I have to use force! The juin reacts when he tries to mold chakra, and it will try to extract power out of him!"

She touched her own juin and said, "It's a kinjutsu (forbidden technique) that undermines the affected person! It amazes me that he is able to withstand it. A normal person would be dead."

She looked back at Sasuke as she said this, and then turned to the Sandaime.

"Hokage-sama!" she pleaded.

Back with Naruto's team, Sakura was asking Sasuke to reconsider.

"You're not in any condition to fight normally, Sasuke-kun," she said with her hands clasped together.

"Shut up," hissed Sasuke.

"I know it!" exclaimed Sakura.

"Be quiet," said Sasuke.

"You've been bearing with the pain all this time!" said Sakura, tears forming in the corners of her eyes.

"Just be quiet!" demanded Sasuke.

"Whatever you say, I'm going to tell the sensei-tachi about that aza! Then…" she said, beginning to raise her hand.

But someone else beat her to the punch. People exclaimed and muttered among themselves, and Sakura gasped in surprise.

"Ano, I'll quit," said Kabuto, smiling sheepishly.

"K-kabuto-san?" said Naruto.

Hayate was silent for a moment, and then began flipping though the papers on his clipboard.

"Eto (let's see)… You are Konoha's Yakushi Kabuto-kun? You may leave, then," he said.

"Hai," said Kabuto, and turned to go.

"Kabuto-san, why are you quitting? Why?" asked Naruto angrily, clenching his fist under his chin.

Kabuto turned to look at Naruto, and Gaara glared at the older boy.

'_He…_' thought Gaara.

"I'm sorry, Naruto-kun, but my body is completely worn out already. Even before the First Exam, after I had that quarrel with the Oto guys, I couldn't hear anything in my left ear. I can't fight right away, especially if it's a life or death battle," said Kabuto, and Naruto looked down dejectedly.

"I've seen him a few times. I believe he retired during the Main Exam last time, too. What is he thinking?" commented the Hokage.

"Anko," said Ibiki, looking at her.

"Oh, hai," said Anko, and flipped through her notepad, as well.

"Yakushi Kabuto… According to our data, he has failed six times in a row," she said.

"What about his personal history?" asked the Hokage.

"He didn't stand out in his Academy years, and his grades were normal. He passed the graduation exam on his third try. After that, he did two C-rank missions and 14 D-rank ones. He doesn't have any outstanding accomplishments. But…" Anko trailed off.

"But?" repeated the Hokage.

"It's about before he entered the Academy."

"Hn?"

"Do you remember the story of the boy that was brought back from the Kikyou Pass battle?" asked Anko.

"Yes. A Jounin from the medic squad took custody of an enemy's boy that was left on the battlefield. So he's that boy?" said the Hokage.

-o-o-o-

"Don't act on your own. Did you forget Orochimaru-sama's orders?" said Kabuto's teammate, the one with the black eyes.

"I'll leave it to you two. Especially you, Yoroi-san… You will have no problems with your special ability. It's your chance to show what you're capable of, since you're irritated because I got ahead of you," said Kabuto.

'Yoroi-san' 'hmphed' and said, "So you're Orochimaru-sama's favorite… Don't get cocky, gaki."

Kabuto smirked and said, "Okay, senpai (senior)," before walking off.

He paused and waved at Naruto with a smile.

As he walked back to the entrance, he thought, '_Naruto-kun, Sasuke-kun… I wanted to play with you a little longer, but if I keep going on…the old blood in me might awaken. I'm a spy, even if I don't look like one. I can't let you see my true face here. Also, if you're going to watch it yourself, my information gathering job is done, right, Orochimaru-sama? Let's save the fun for the future. Sasuke-kun, Naruto-kun, you two, too._'

After Kabuto's footsteps faded away, everyone was silent.

Finally, Hayate coughed and said, "May I assume there are no more people who wish to retire?"

Sakura gasped and thought, '_I need to let the sensei-tachi know about Sasuke-kun's aza,_' and began to raise her hand.

She gasped again when Sasuke slapped it down and then grabbed it.

"Be quiet about this aza," he said.

Sakura began to cry, and shook her said, saying, "Why are you acting so tough? I don't want to see you suffering anymore. I…"

"It doesn't matter to you!" said Sasuke, making Sakura gasp yet again.

"You're just being nosy," he said bluntly, "I told you before, I'm an avenger. This isn't just an exam to me. I don't care about being a Chuunin, either. Am I tsuyoi (strong)? I just want the answer to that. I'm going to fight the strong guys, and those strong guys are here! I will not allow even you to take away my path!"

"Sasuke-kun…" said Sakura, looking shocked.

"Stop acting cool, you baka! Sakura-chan's worried about you–" began Naruto.

"Naruto. I want to fight with you, too," said Sasuke, smirking at the other.

Naruto grunted in surprise, and proceeded in having a staring match with the Uchiha.

-o-o-o-

The Hokage breathed out some smoke.

"What Orochimaru said worries me a little. Let's let Sasuke go on, and just observe him for now," he said.

Anko whirled on him in astonishment and said, "Hokage-sama!"

"However, if the juin opens up and his powers become uncontrollable, stop him."

"Hai," said Ibiki.

"But…!" said Anko, and then calmed and said, "I understand."

-o-o-o-

"Then, let's begin the preliminary matches," said Hayate, "It will be a one-on-one match. In other words, it will be like real combat. There are now twenty-nine people, so someone will have to battle twice, making this have fifteen matches, and the winners will be able to advance to the Third Exam. There are no rules. You will fight until the other person dies, is knocked out, or admits defeat. If you do not want to die, please give up immediately. However, if I judge that the match is over, I may stop you to prevent any unnecessary deaths. The thing that will hold your destiny…"

He looked at Anko, who nodded.

"Open it," she said into the microphone by her mouth.

A metal pane in the wall moved, revealing a TV screen underneath.

"…will be this," continued Hayate, "This electric bulletin board will randomly display the name of two fighters for each match. Without further ado, I will now display the names for the first match."

Everyone stared up at the screen expectantly, and Naruto gulped. The screen flashed yellow and then names began to flicker across the screen. The names stopped at 'Kumonosu Kagura vs. Higurashi Kagome'.

"Mataku…already?" muttered Kagome, ruffling her hair.

"Those whose names were displayed, step up," said Hayate.

Kagome and Kagura stepped up from the group of Genin.

Iruka made a sound of surprise and thought, '_That's that girl that Naruto was hanging out with…_'

Raising his arms, Hayate said, "The first match's fighters are Kumonosu Kaguro and Higurashi Kagome. Are there any objections?"

"Iie," said both Kagome and Kagura.

"Eh… We will now begin the first match. Everyone other than the two fighters, please move up there," said Hayate, gesturing at the balconies on both sides of the room. (2)

Everyone went up to the balconies.

'_I wish Sasuke had been picked first. That way we could have had that juin sealed up sooner,_' thought Kakashi.

"Oi, Inu-baka," called Kagome, once InuYasha had gone up on the right balcony.

"Un?"

"Catch," was all Kagome said, before she took off her erhu case and threw it at him.

InuYasha was knocked back against the wall, all of the air in his lungs forced out.

"Kuso… How the hell do you carry this thing around all the time? How did you even manage to throw it? It weighs over sixty pounds!" gasped InuYasha.

"Miroku," said Kagome, not answering her sibling.

"Hai, Kagome-sama?"

"Take this," said Kagome, and threw him her quiver.

Miroku deftly snatched her quiver out of the air and leaned it against the wall.

"Oi! Why did he get the lightest object?" shouted InuYasha in agitation.

"Because he's not nearly as annoying as you, now urusai!" Kagome shouted up at him.

"Heh, my bride-to-be thinks you're troublesome," said a smirking Kouga.

"'BRIDE-TO-BE'? Since when the hell did she decide to marry you?" shouted InuYasha.

"I didn't," said Kagome, but InuYasha didn't hear her, and neither did Kouga.

Everyone watched in awe and astonishment (except for Gaara, he just glared) as a testosterone-packed shouting match ensued. The females in the room, except for Kagome, were wondering why nobody ever fought over them, while the other males in the room thought the two shouting boys were being idiots. Kagome stood with her eyes closed, and she was silently fuming.

"She's my bride-to-be, even if she hasn't made up her mind yet!" yelled Kouga.

"Not if I have a say in anything! There's no way in hell I'm going to end up being related to _you_!" shouted InuYasha.

"Guys…"

"What's the matter with me? I'm devilishly attractive and charming! You're the one that has problems!"

"Keh! You're just an egotistical baka that thinks that the world revolves around himself!"

"_Guys…_"

"'Egotistical'? I wasn't aware that you even had such a large vocabulary! If I didn't know any better–"

"Urusai! Just close that annoying mouth of yours before–"

"OSUWARI!"

InuYasha was slammed against the floor of the balcony by an unseen force, while those who watched closely saw that the rosary around his neck had glowed a little before impact.

"Nani? How does she do that!" said Kankurou, and Gaara stared even more at Kagome.

"She said just one word, and 'boom'!" said Lee, slamming his fist into his palm.

Naruto was giggling. He looked up at Sasuke, and pictured himself saying that 'osuwari' word over and over again. Sasuke glared at him when Naruto's giggling increased.

Kouga started laughing at InuYasha, but was cut off when a thrown shuriken barely missed his ear and stuck into the wall beside him. He gave a squeak of surprise and looked down at the culprit.

"Kouga…I AM NOT YOUR BRIDE-TO-BE!" she shouted, grabbing the hilt of Sou'unga.

Kouga immediately quieted down and was silent, staring all the while at the katana on Kagome's back. He knew what kind of damage it could do to a person. His sensei, Kaguya, rolled her eyes.

"Keh, you wimp," said InuYasha, wiping away a trickle of blood from his mouth.

'_Mataku, a girl's fight. How troublesome,_' thought Shikamaru.

'_Hmm, I'm interested in this girl's abilities,_' thought Kakashi, who didn't even bother to take out his Icha Icha Paradise book, earning him weird looks from Asuma and Kurenai.

"Good luck, Kagome-chan!" shouted Naruto, making Kagome smile at him.

"Begin," said Hayate, making a cutting motion with his hands.

Before anyone could blink, the two opponents had clashed kunai and were glaring at each other in the face. Kagome leapt back as soon as Kagura did, and then clashed kunai again. Kagome took out a second kunai, and began to fight Kagura with both of them. Soon, both girls were using two kunai to try and slice the other.

"Nan da? They aren't even throwing them. They're just using them as hand knives," said Kiba.

Kagura took out several shuriken and threw them at Kagome. Kagome dodged most of them and deflected one with a shuriken of her own. She took out more kunai and threw them at the Kumonosu girl, who dodged them just in time.

"Man, this fight is going to drag on forever. How troublesome," muttered Shikamaru.

"C'mon, gaki, just go ahead and break her leg!" shouted InuYasha down to his teammate.

"Don't tell her that! She might just do it!" said Miroku.

Sesshoumaru said nothing, since he was currently having a heated staring match with his rival, the sensei of Kagura's team, Kumonosu Naraku. It was so heated you could practically see the static crackling between their gazes.

"Nee-chan's taking it easy on her. Taku," said Kagura's teammate and younger brother, Kumonosu Hakudoushi. His fraternal older twin, Kumonosu Kanna, said nothing, since she rarely did.

The Kumonosu clan was very similar to the Taishou clan in the fact that both of them used wind and poison jutsu. Most of the members of both clans were made up of medic nin, though InuYasha had failed in this perspective. Using similar jutsu had created tension between the two clans, and eventually developed into a rivalry. That was why Sesshoumaru and Naraku were staring at each other intensely.

Kagome and Kagura broke away from Kagura and landed several feet away. She, like Kagura, had been testing her opponent's strength.

'_For such a small girl, she sure does have a lot of strength!_' thought Kagura.

"Sou ka," Kagome said.

She made a gesture with her hands and arms. She made it by laying both arms beside the other and pointing her hands up at an angle in the crooks of her elbows. Once she did this, ice began to creep from beneath her feet and over the surface of the floor. Kagura and Hayate had to leap back in order to avoid it.

'_That's hyou (ice)!_' thought Kakashi.

"Hyou… I heard that you were weird, demo…" said Kagura, smirking slightly.

"Save your breath. I've heard it all before," snapped Kagome.

"I was going to say that I was surprised that such a short person can be so strong," said Kagura.

"WHO'RE YOU CALLING AN ANT THAT YOU CAN STEP ON?" Kagome yelled, making several people sweatdrop.

'_She didn't say that…_' they thought.

"That's it, get her riled up. She fights better when she's riled up," said InuYasha, hanging over the railing of the balcony and eagerly rubbing his hands together; Miroku rolled his eyes at his teammate's behavior.

Kagome made the hand seals 'Ne' ('rat'), 'Tora' ('tiger'), 'Inu ('dog'), 'Ushi' ('ox'), 'U' ('rabbit'), 'Tora' ('tiger') and said, "Katon: Housenka no Jutsu!"

She inhaled and then spat out several fireballs at Kagura. Kagura narrowed her eyes.

"Fuuton: Fuujin no Mai (Wind Release: Dance of Blades)!" shouted Kagura, taking out a small white fan and sending blades of wind at the fireballs.

The fan wasn't very big, and was white in color. On one side, red streaks edged part of the top, while on the other side, it was the opposite; red streaks edged the bottom. Red ribbons hung from the end.

The fireballs were directed back at the ice that Kagome had created, but it was thick and cold enough the fireballs and blades of wind merely scarred the surface and caused it to become smoky.

"Is that all you have? The Taishou clan must be even weaker than I imagined, especially with you, the adopted daughter," scoffed Kagura.

She gasped when a kunai flew past her cheek, causing a small cut to appear on it. The kunai hit the wall behind her and clattered to the floor harmlessly. Her gaze fell back on Kagome, who was grinning.

"Where did that kunai come from?" said Ino.

"You… I didn't even see you move!" said Kagura, as droplets of blood slid down her face.

"Iie, that was the point," said Kagome, and jerked one of her hands back towards herself.

To the shock of most that watched, the kunai went flying back towards her and she caught it. She stuck it back in her kunai pouch.

"There was a string attached to it made out of chakra!" gasped Sakura.

In retaliation, Kagura said, "Fuuton: Ryuuja no Mai! (Wind Release: Dance of the Dragon)!"

Several small tornadoes were whipped up as she swung her fan, and they all headed for Kagome. Surprisingly, the ice still held, though its whole surface became scarred. There was a sickening crunch and dust flew everywhere as the tornadoes reached their destination.

"Kagome-chan!" Naruto cried out, afraid that Kagome had been harmed.

The dust cleared, but Kagome was nowhere to be seen. Kagura spun around in all directions, but the other kunoichi was nowhere to be seen. Surely she hadn't hit her… There were always remains of the body after Kagura used that particular attack.

There was the sound of crunching soil and concrete, and a hand reached up to grab Kagura's ankle, all too fast for the Fuuton user to react to. With a scream, Kagura wrenched herself free of the hand and flipped over to the opposite side of the ice, where there was a large hole. The sound of laughing was heard from above, from InuYasha and Miroku, and from underneath the ground.

'_That was one hell of a scream,_' thought Asuma, raising an eyebrow.

Kagome pulled herself quickly out from underneath the ground, chuckling and grinning from ear to ear. Kagura noticed that the bandages on Kagome's scarred right arm had come loose, but shrugged it off.

"She's making a fool out of you, Kagura! Rip her arms off!" shouted Hakudoushi from above.

"Gaki! Break her leg before she rips your arms off!" shouted InuYasha in retaliation.

'_Taku, these gaki from Tsuki no Kuni are bloodthirsty,_' thought Kakashi, sweatdropping a little.

"Oi, Kagura-san," said Kagome in a low voice.

"Hm?" said Kagura.

"Do you still have any cool jutsu that you haven't shown me yet?" asked Kagome.

"Doushite?" asked Kagura, getting into a fighting position.

Kagome closed her eyes, and said, opening them, "'Cause I wanna copy 'em!"

Kagura gasped and took several steps back.

"What the hell is wrong with your eyes?" she said loudly.

Gasps, especially among the Konoha nin, went around the room. Kagome's irises were now red, and inside the red were intricate black designs. First, three black bars stretched from the edges of the irises in way that a triangle could roughly fit inside the space they left, touching all three sides. They touched three interconnected comma shapes with red holes in the middle of where the commas were the fattest. From each comma head, a line went all the way to the pupil. The same went for the other side of the comma heads as well; a line on the same axis as the other went from the comma head to the edge of her irises. All that was black left after those were her pupils.

It was undoubtedly the Sharingan, despite the interesting formation of it.

"T-that's…!" stuttered Kurenai, sounding an awful lot like one of her students.

"The Sharingan…" breathed Asuma.

Sasuke was gripping the railing of the balcony. His heart was beating very fast. His mind was racing. His breathing was labored. This couldn't be right! They were all dead, except for him and…

Kakashi was staring down at Kagome with shock. Of all the things he was expecting her to be, this was not it. But it made sense…

"Anko!" said the Ibiki, while the Hokage looked like he was about to have a heart attack.

When Anko didn't snap out of her daze, Ibiki said again, "_Anko_!"

Anko jumped guiltily and began flipping through her notepad.

"Personal history…" said the Hokage distantly, whose bugging eyes hadn't moved from their spot on Kagome.

"Hai. Eto…she was found as an orphan in Mizu no Kuni. And brought to Tsuki no Kuni. She was eventually adopted into the Tsukikage's clan, but was notable for being a prodigy and a genius in strategic maneuver. She also earned a nickname for being unpredictable in attack maneuvers…" said Anko, her eyes hurrying along the lines written on the paper.

Shaking herself, Kagura began to make hand seals. The tomoe in Kagome's Sharingan began to spin, and her hands began making hand seals along with Kagura.

"'Ne' ('rat'), 'Uma' ('horse), 'Inu', 'Mi' ('serpent')! Doton: Ganchuurou no Jutsu (Earth Release: Earth Pillar Prison)!" they said simultaneously.

'_She has a lot of control over that Sharingan of hers,_' thought Kakashi.

Eyes widening, Kagura watched as stone pillars came out of the ground beside Kagome, just like hers. She grit her teeth and directed her pillars toward the other kunoichi, but they just crumbled into little bits as Kagome slammed hers into Kagura's. Once all the stone pillars were gone, Kagome suddenly vanished.

Kagura didn't know what hit her. Suddenly, she was attacked from the side and barely had enough time to get out of the way to keep herself upright. Then she was hit again, and again, from different directions. Kagura's mind spun; she couldn't make any sense of where her opponent was coming from! She scrambled to get away by leaping into the air, but Kagome was there in front of her.

'_She's fast! You can barely even see her!_' thought Lee, who was actually quite fast himself.

Kagura experienced an '_oh shit_' moment, and her eyes widened before she was dealt a swift kick in the stomach. Before she could hit the ground, she was punched from the right and sent flying that way. And again she was kicked, this time towards the ground. She was knocked onto the ice, and its scarred surface allowed her to get a grip on it in order to haul herself back up.

Wiping the trickle of blood coming from the corner of her mouth, Kagura said, "What are you?"

Gaara began to shake at the sight of Kagura's blood.

Kagome didn't answer. She was advancing from the side, where there was currently no ice.

"Don't worry. You will be out for about twelve hours. No biggie," she said, lifting up one of her hands, which became engulfed in what looked like blue fire.

"Nani?" said Kagura, backing up a couple of steps; this girl wasn't making any sense, at all!

Suddenly, Kagome slammed her blue-engulfed hand down onto the edge of the ice. Blue, glowing designs of a minute and intricate nature began to form under the ice. It first spread to outline a perfect circle, and then began to move towards the center along lines. As it spread, those who watched could see that the lines were actually writing in the form of calligraphy (3). Kagura backed up a couple more steps, and found that she couldn't move.

"Nani?" she said again, and tugged at her legs with her hands. They didn't budge.

Kagome smiled cutely from the side of circle and waved, saying, "Bai bai!"

The designs stopped about a foot away from Kagura's feet, and began to glow even brighter. It became so bright, many people had to shield their eyes from it. There was a sound like the roaring of a forest fire, and the light became so intense that you could see it through your eyelids. Then it slowly died away.

People opened their eyes to see the designs and lines on the floor fading, revealing the crumpled form of Kagura. Kagome walked up to her and felt her pulse, then nodded, as if satisfied.

"You killed her!" shouted Hakudoushi.

"Baka! She's just paralyzed. In twelve hours, it'll wear off and she'll be like new," Kagome spat at him.

Others who could see Kagura's staring red eyes could beg to differ. Some of the waiting medics came in and placed Kagura on a stretcher, and then carried her out.

"You didn't break her legs!" shouted InuYasha in agitation.

"Osuwari," said Kagome.

Many people watched in shock and astonishment, if they could be anymore, as InuYasha was slammed into the floor of the balcony again.

"What the hell was that for!" shouted InuYasha, though his voice was muffled.

"You're annoying, and you are _not_ the boss of me," said Kagome simply, and then turned.

She tapped her foot on the ice and said, "Oi, you can come out now. It's over."

A small, slithery black thing of only two dimensions came up out of the ice. It appeared to look around to see if the coast was clear, then slithered up Kagome's leg and pressed itself against the bare skin of her right arm. There was a flash of blue light, and the black thing became one with her arm, revealing itself to be a tattoo. Kagome winced; it always hurt like white-hot fire when that happened.

"Sugee! You're so cool, Kagome-chan!" crowed Naruto, apparently oblivious to what her having the Sharingan meant.

Gekkou Hayate managed to snap himself out of his shock and stepped forward, saying, "The first match winner is Higurashi Kagome. This means she passes the preliminary round."

InuYasha, who had finally picked himself up, whooped and gave Miroku a high-five. Sesshoumaru, who had snapped out of his glaring match with Naraku a while back, seemed to smile slightly.

"Ne, Gekkou-san?" asked Kagome, turning towards him.

Hayate looked at her in surprise as she approached.

"You have a cough, ne? Here's something that will help it. You'll feel a little worse for a couple of days, but then it will go away," said Kagome.

Hayate looked at her in confusion. The doctors at the Konoha Hospital had said that what he had was incurable, and yet this girl claimed she had the cure. And she was looking at him with those Sharingan eyes that she wasn't supposed to have… Before he could react, she had placed her hands on her chest and sent some kind of energy into it. And only he seemed to notice it; everyone else was talking amongst themselves or too shocked to really care.

He stumbled back, and Kagome smiled at him. She was doing her best not to just fall over now, since she had spent so much of her reiki. Most of it had been used in that last attack, and purifying Gekkou Hayate's lungs was no easy task either, despite it taking only a couple of seconds. Kagome and began walking back towards where her team was situated on the balcony.

Snapping out of his reverie, Sasuke hurled himself over the edge of the railing.

"Sasuke!" called Kakashi.

"Sasuke-kun!" cried Sakura.

Despite being in pain, Sasuke rushed after Kagome's turned back. She spun around and caught his wrist as he put forward his hand to grab her.

"What do _you_ want, pretty boy?" asked Kagome, raising an eyebrow.

Too distracted to even care, Sasuke yanked his wrist out of her grasp and said, "How did you get that Doujutsu!"

Her Sharingan eyes flickered with confusion.

"These? I was born with them," said Kagome, pointing at one of her eyes.

"Usotsuki (liar)!" shouted Sasuke in a tone that made a lot of people do a double-take.

"Why would I lie to you?" asked Kagome, completely lost by now.

"That Doujutsu…" said Sasuke with obvious restraint, "the Sharingan… is the kekkei genkai of a certain clan here in Konoha. A clan that is dead! My clan!"

'_Sharingan?_' thought Kagome with confusion.

"Oh?" she said instead, with a hint of interest in her voice.

"Now tell me: where did you get the Sharingan!" shouted Sasuke.

"Baka yarou! I told you already! I was _born_ with it!" said Kagome, raising her voice, as well.

"Why you-!" said Sasuke, and took out a kunai.

Before he could blink, Kagome flipped him around, grabbed the kunai out of his hand, and held it closely to his throat.

"Sasuke-kun!" cried Sakura.

"You listen to me!" Kagome hissed, "When I say I'm not lying, I'm not! I never lie needlessly! Ask anyone that knows me! Now get your sorry ass back up to Naruto-kun before something _unfortunate_ happens to you!"

To emphasize her point, she dug the kunai slightly into her throat, making a thin cut appear and bleed. Then she shoved him away from her roughly – causing him to stumble while trying to regain his balance – and threw the kunai at his feet. He looked up into her red eyes and shivered; her cold eyes reminded him of someone else.

Sasuke was quite shocked. No one, especially a girl, had ever manhandled him like that before. No one had dared; he was, after all, now the current heir to the Uchiha clan. He watched Kagome jump the long distance back up to her teammates. When she turned back around, her eyes were blue again. Sasuke took this chance to get up and jump back up to his teammates, as well.

Kagome suddenly seemed to realize that everyone was staring at her as if she had grown not only another head, but a third, as well.

"Sesshoumaru-sensei? What did I do?" she asked quietly, wondering if she had done some sort of faux pas known only among the greater shinobi nations; it didn't occur to her that it might have been because she had just threatened – subtly – Uchiha Sasuke.

She slipped back behind her older aniki and clutched part of his hakama in her hand. To Kakashi, she looked remarkably like a shy child hiding behind one of her parents. Her size, her sensei's size, and her large blue eyes added further to the illusion.

Kagome was glad when Sesshoumaru didn't push her away. If anything, he moved more in front of her to help shield her from view. InuYasha stood to her right side and Miroku stood to her left, blocking her entirely from view.

"What the hell are you all looking at? She's not a zoo animal to be stared at!" snarled InuYasha defensively.

He had a point. Everyone knew it, and chose not to be angry at his rough words for it. Hayate, who now had a burning sensation starting in his lungs, coughed.

"Eh… Now, we will begin the next match," he said.

Everyone watched the electronic screen, and next popped up 'Akadou Yoroi vs. Uchiha Sasuke'.

Kabuto's black-eyed teammate came down the stairs and stood where Kagome and Kagura had before. As Sasuke moved to go down as well, Kakashi caught him by the shoulder.

"Sasuke," he said quietly, "don't use your Sharingan."

Sasuke gasped and then smirked, saying, "So you know?"

"If that juin on your neck becomes uncontrollable, it may kill you," said Kakashi.

"That's what I figured," said Sasuke.

"Maa, if that happens, the match will be cancelled. I'll stop you, so keep that in mind," said Kakashi.

'_Cancelled?_' thought Sasuke, as he was allowed to go down.

'_This juin seems to react to my chakra. If I try to mold chakra, it takes over my mind and will extract chakra out of me without limit. In other words, using my Sharingan is out of the question, and I can't even use normal jutsu,_' he thought as he came to stand in front of Yoroi.

"The second match's fighters are Akadou Yoroi and Uchiha Sasuke. Are there any objections?" asked Hayate.

"Iie!"

Orochimaru, who was disguised as an Oto nin that looked remarkably like himself, was smirking and watching Sasuke.

'_But Yoroi's ability will turn out dreadful for you, Sasuke-kun,_' thought Orochimaru.

-o-o-o-

Sasuke sat panting on the floor. He had won. Since he was so tired, he began to fall back, but Kakashi appeared behind him in a poof of smoke, holding up Sasuke with his knee. Kakashi was, of course, reading Icha Icha Paradise.

"Maa, you did okay," said the silver-haired man, causing Sasuke to look back at him with a smirk.

'_The move before, the Shishi Rendan (Lion Combo), was a Gai Taijutsu move. So he copied it with his Sharingan when he fought that Lee kid,_' thought Kakashi.

"Sasuke!" shouted Naruto happily, "You won in such an idiotic way! You're all worn out, baka!"

"Taku, that idiot," panted Sasuke, and smirked.

'_Sasuke-kun… I'm so glad!_' thought Sakura.

'_Yoshi, I'm going to win, too!_' thought Naruto, clenching his fist in the air.

Kagome had come out of hiding, though InuYasha and Miroku still flanked her on either side. No one was looking at her, which she was glad of. She hated it when people stared at her.

Sasuke looked up at Lee and thought, '_Lee, I was able to win, thanks to you. If I didn't see your move up close, I would've been done for._'

His body began to spasm with pain and he thought, '_Although it seems that I can't use the move consecutively too much…_'

'_Sou ka, so you copied part of the moves I used on you just once. That must be your ability. Sasuke-kun, you are incredible. You become stronger and stronger. I even feel some fear of you,_' thought Lee.

Gai watched his student and thought, '_Renge (Lotus Blossom), a series of high-speed Taijutsu moves cannot be done unless you train very hard. It's not something a person can just use right away because he used his Sharingan. Also, that idea he came up with for the finishing move… Kakashi, this boy reminds me of you when you were young._'

Neji was staring intently at Sasuke, and Tenten noticed.

'_Last year's number one rookie, Hyuuga Neji… This year's number one rookie, Uchiha Sasuke… I wonder who is stronger?_' she thought, giggling to herself.

'_But what a guy. He unleashed the true powers of the Sharingan here. I guess the Uchiha's ability is to be feared,_' thought Kakashi.

'_I'm shocked. The juin almost got out of control, but he held it in with his will,_' thought Anko.

'_Typical! This guy gets hyped up over my Doujutsu for some crazy reason, and he doesn't even use it himself!_' scoffed Kagome to herself.

'_Keh, this guy's such a loser,_' thought InuYasha, snorting.

Gaara made a strangled noise in the back of his throat and his hands gripped his forearms tightly. He trembled with restraint.

'_Damn it… Again?_' thought Kankurou as he noticed.

"Heh," said Zaku, "It wouldn't be interesting if you didn't do that."

Ino gave a cry of happiness and said, "Sasuke-kun's so cool!"

'_We're going to stop here,_' thought Shikamaru.

"I'm hungry," said Chouji.

"Sugoi…" said Hinata.

"Keh! It's not much!" said Kiba.

Orochimaru looked like he was about to swoop down and eat Sasuke in one gulp.

'_Wonderful,_' he thought, licking his lips with his huge tongue.

Two medics carried an unconscious Akadou Yoroi off in a stretcher.

A third approached Sasuke and said, "Uchiha Sasuke, we medics will give you the best treatment we can."

"This isn't your field," said Kakashi.

"Huh?" said the medic.

"I'll take him," said Kakashi, and then knelt down next to Sasuke and said quietly, "I'll take you into the back room and seal that juin."

"Wait until the preliminary matches are over! I want to see the matches of the guys who will move on to the main event!" protested Sasuke.

"No," said Kakashi, standing, "Don't get so heated. If we leave it as it is, it might do something irreversible. I won't listen to your selfish requests twice. Come."

Sasuke got up with hesitation and began walking to the entrance, Kakashi following behind him.

Sakura's eyes followed Sasuke's form, and thought, '_Sasuke-kun…_'

Naruto noted with surprise that Sasuke was holding something on his left shoulder.

Sasuke glanced up at Kagome, who narrowed her eyes, and then crossed them along with sticking out her tongue. Sasuke looked down at his feet with anger, and Kakashi looked up to see where Sasuke had been looking.

Kagome stopped making faces the moment Kakashi looked up. His one eye narrowed at her, and his hidden one seemed to want to search her for answers. Her heart did a weird flip-flop.

'_He has pretty hair… I wonder if it's as soft as Sesshoumaru-nii's?_' she thought.

"Sakura-chan, did you see some weird wound on Sasuke's neck during the match?" asked Naruto.

"Eh? I don't know," said Sakura, remembering her promise to Sasuke not to tell Naruto.

"Sou ka," said Naruto, and then just walked off.

"Nani? Where are you going?" asked Sakura.

"I'm going to talk to Kagome-chan," said Naruto, as if it were obvious.

"Ehh… Now we will begin the next match," said Hayate.

The screen flashed, and 'Abumi Zaku vs. Aburame Shino' appeared.

-o-o-o-

Kakashi completed writing various symbols down Sasuke's bare back with his own blood. Sasuke was sitting in the middle of a circle with kunai placed in various parts of it. Symbols written in Kakashi's blood were in lines surrounding Sasuke, as well as the juin on his neck.

"Yoshi," said Kakashi, standing.

"Bear with this a little. It'll be done in no time," he said.

Sasuke nodded and Kakashi clasped his hands together. Then he began making various hand seals.

"Fuuja Houin (Evil Sealing Method)!" said Kakashi loudly, and pressed one of his hands against the juin on Sasuke's neck.

There was a flash of light and Sasuke began to scream in pain. The symbols written in Kakashi's blood actually began to move off the floor, and up Sasuke's body towards the juin. Once they had all reached the juin, Kakashi removed his hand, revealing the tomoe of the juin to be fiery-colored, and surrounded by a broken circle with spokes. Sasuke continued to scream, and when he stopped, he knelt down on all fours, panting.

"If that juin tries to activate again," explained Kakashi, "the power of the Fuuja Houin will hold it in. However, Sasuke, this fuuin jutsu (sealing technique) utilizes your will as its main source. If you lose faith in your power and your will sways, the juin will reactivate."

Sasuke listened to these words and then passed out on the floor.

Kakashi gave a sound of amusement and said, "It looks like he's tired out."

There was the sound of approaching footsteps, and a voice said, "So you can use fuuin jutsu now."

Kakashi gasped in realization.

"You've grown, Kakashi," said the voice, and someone stepped out from behind a nearby pillar.

"You're…" said Kakashi, sweating slightly.

"It's been a long time, Kakashi-kun," said the man, purple flames surrounding him as he regained his real appearance.

"Orochimaru," breathed Kakashi.

"I'm sorry, but I have no business with you. But I do have business with the boy behind you. And maybe later, the girl," said Orochimaru.

"Why are you after Sasuke? And who is this girl you speak of?" demanded Kakashi.

"Hn. You're lucky, since you got what you wanted already," said Orochimaru, making Kakashi grunt with sickly surprise.

"You didn't have _that_ a long time ago. That…Sharingan in your left eye. I want it, too. Uchiha's powers, that is," said Orochimaru, making Kakashi glare at him hatefully.

"What is your purpose?" asked Kakashi.

"The recently-made Otogakure no Sato is mine. You understand if I just say that, ne?"

Kakashi gave humorless laugh and said, "What a stupid ambition."

"My, my," laughed Orochimaru, "that was blunt. But to accomplish my ambition, I need pieces to become my legs and arms and accomplish things for me."

"So Sasuke is one of those pieces?"

"No, Sasuke is a supreme piece. As will that girl, I think. And the ones taking the exam right now are merely sacrifices," said Orochimaru, grinning a crazy, sadistic, grin.

"Who is this girl you keep talking about?" Kakashi demanded.

Orochimaru shook his head and said, "Are you truly that blind? The girl with the abilities of an Uchiha. If she was born with the abilities of an Uchiha, she _is_ an Uchiha. And therefore, can produce more wielders of the Sharingan. If two wielders of a Sharingan breed, there is a high chance of the female bearing children with the trait."

A sickly jolt hit Kakashi. This man was utterly insane and twisted!

"Don't worry. They are probably distantly-enough related that there won't be any…_complications_ with the offspring," said Orochimaru, taking a step toward Kakashi.

"You sick bastard," said Kakashi.

Orochimaru merely smirked and took another step closer. And another. Kakashi glared at Orochimaru, then went into a crouch.

"Don't get any closer to Sasuke and that girl!" he said, making his right hand look like he was going to strike with claws, and grabbed the top half of his arm with his other hand.

Orochimaru narrowed his eyes in irritation, and then gasped slightly when blue chakra began to form in Kakashi's clawed hand. The chakra acted and sounded like lightning.

"Even if you're one of the legendary Sannin, I can sacrifice my life to kill you!" said Kakashi.

Orochimaru apparently found this amusing, since he began to laugh quite loudly.

"What's so funny?" asked Kakashi angrily.

"What you say and do doesn't agree with each other."

"Nani?"

"There's no point in using that seal. You know, right? He has a heart that seeks power no matter how evil it is. He possesses that kind of disposition. He is an avenger," said Orochimaru.

"So you took advantage of that," said Kakashi, "But Sasuke won't–"

Tilting his head, Orochimaru said, "Eventually, _he_ will seek _me_ out."

He walked away and said, as Kakashi's chakra died down, "Seek me out for power, that is. Also, you said that you could kill me? Try. That is, if you can."

Kakashi gasped, and a memory that he badly wanted to forget resurfaced. He watched as Orochimaru became one with the darkness. His fingers on his extended hand twitched, and he exhaled shakily, his eyes wide.

'_Sacrifice my life to kill him? Am I mad?_' he thought.

He stood up straight and sighed, his shoulders slouching over.

-o-o-o-

Sakura glanced behind her with surprise as Kakashi appeared behind her in a poof of smoke. His posture was slightly odd, seeing as how he was hunched over, had one hand on his hip, and the other was up in greeting.

"Yo," he said.

"Don't just 'yo' me, Kakashi-sensei! What about Sasuke-kun? Is he alright?" asked Sakura with concern.

"Maa, he's alright. He's sleeping in the hospital right now," said Kakashi, and Sakura sighed with a mixture of relief and disappointment.

'_But he has ANBU escorts with him,_' thought Kakashi.

"By the way, where is Naruto?" asked Kakashi, glancing around.

"Over there," said Sakura, pointing with poorly disguised disgust.

Kakashi followed with his eye where her finger was pointing, which was across the auditorium. Naruto was talking animatedly with Higurashi Kagome, who was laughing and making exaggerated gestures in the air. She was in the middle of telling Naruto something when she paused, and looked over at Kakashi in the eye.

'_This girl… That hebi (snake) was talking about her as if she were an Uchiha-producing factory. But she does look like one, if you take away the blue eyes and imagine black ones instead,_' thought Kakashi.

"Oi, Kakashi-sensei! Is Sasuke alright?" Naruto called across the way; the girl must have alerted him to his sensei's presence.

"Hai, he's in the hospital resting," said Kakashi loudly.

"Nani? I can't hear you!" yelled Naruto.

"I said," began Kakashi more loudly, "hai, he's in the hospital resting!"

"Still can't hear you!"

Kakashi sweatdropped and thought, '_I just might throttle him._'

The girl tapped Naruto on the shoulder and was talking to him. She gestured over Kakashi's way and pointed at the stairs to both of the balconies. Naruto looked downtrodden for a moment, and then ran off around the other side to Kakashi and Sakura.

"Hee hee hee! Kagome-chan said that I should probably talk to you face to face than yell at you from over there! You really should speak up, Kakashi-sensei!" said Naruto, grinning like a Cheshire cat and rubbing the back of his head.

"Oh, 'Kagome-chan' did, did she?" said Sakura angrily.

"Hn? What's wrong with her? She was just telling me about the time–" began Naruto.

"I don't care!" exclaimed Sakura, crossing her arms and sticking her nose up in the air.

"Anyway, Sasuke is in the hospital resting, Naruto. He's fine," said Kakashi, ignoring Sakura's piggish behavior.

"Okay," said Naruto, and ran off again to the other balcony, making Kakashi pinch himself to make sure Orochimaru hadn't knocked him out.

"He really likes that girl, huh," he said.

"I don't see what's so special about her," said Sakura, still standing haughtily.

-o-o-o-

While Tsurugi Misumi and Kankurou were battling, Naruto turned to Kagome.

"Ano sa, ano sa, let's go over to Sakura-chan and Kakashi-sensei!" he said.

"Nani? Are you sure?" asked Kagome, not really wanting to go over.

"Un!" said Naruto, nodding happily.

"O-okay," said Kagome, and began to follow him over to the other side.

"Gaki! Where are you going!" InuYasha called after her.

Kagome didn't answer, but stayed closely behind Naruto as they crossed to the other side. Kakashi looked up in surprise when he saw that Kagome had come over with his student.

"Why are _you_ here?" Sakura asked Kagome.

"To annoy you," said Kagome in a cute voice, and smiled.

"Since his opponent is unable to fight, the winner is Kankurou," said Hayate from below.

"Two against one is unfair. Is that allowed? Is it, Kakashi-sensei?" asked Naruto, pointing down.

"It's not unfair. It's just a ningyou (doll), after all," said Kakashi.

"That's the Kugutsu no Jutsu (Puppet Technique). He controlled the ningyou with his chakra. It's merely a tool, like a shuriken," explained Sakura.

Then she turned and began to walk towards the stairs.

"Sakura-chan? Where are you going?" Naruto called after her.

"To the bathroom," replied Sakura.

"Oh…"

Then Naruto turned to Kagome and said, "Ne, Kagome-chan? Can you show me what you were talking about? With the hyou?"

Kagome looked startled and said, "Oh, un."

She wasn't very comfortable with Kakashi's gaze on her, but she cupped her hands together anyway. Concentrating, she pictured an ice sculpture in her hands. Naruto gasped in amazement as ice began to form in her hands, then twisted into a form. Once the sculpture was done, she plucked it out of one of her hands and held it out to Naruto.

"Sugee… It's perfect!" he said, marveling at the delicate sculpture of the ice rose as he took it into his hand.

"Sou ka? It's nice that you think so, but I don't," said Kagome, blushing and scratching the back of her head.

Kakashi stared at the ice rose. He remembered the report that he had read in the file room. The people in the report had been frozen and their throats had been slashed…

Naruto jumped when the rose began to evaporate into thin air.

"Huh? Where's it going?" he said.

"The ice immediately turns into steam and goes into the air once I'm done with it. You probably didn't notice, but the ice I used down there is gone and has been for a while," said Kagome, pointing down at the ground of the auditorium.

Naruto looked down and saw that she was right; there was no ice to be seen.

Below, Hayate coughed and said, "Moving along, we will now begin the fourth match."

The electronic TV screen began to flicker through names again.

"Matta mataku (geez), everyone is such a weirdo. Except you, Kagome-chan," said Naruto, making Kagome snort with laughter.

"Iie, I'm weird, too," she said, and Naruto grinned.

Sakura, who had returned from the bathroom, glanced at him curiously.

"And you're not?" asked Kakashi, in response to Naruto's comment.

"That's right," said Sakura, laughing a little.

"Not you, too, Sakura-chan," protested Naruto.

Sakura laughed again and Kakashi crouched behind her, putting his hand on her shoulder.

"This isn't the time to be laughing," he said, pointing at the electronic screen.

Sakura gasped; the screen said 'Haruno Sakura vs. Yamanaka Ino'.

_**Owari**_

-o-o-o-

**Omake: The Sandaime**

The Higurashi girl's battle had long since been over, and the Hokage's eyes hadn't moved. In fact, his entire body hadn't moved at all, as if he were frozen in place. His pipe had even gone out.

"Ano, Hokage-sama?" asked Anko, noticing these facts.

He didn't answer. Anko wondered if he was even breathing; he didn't appear to be.

"Yoohoo, Hokage-sama? Anyone home?" asked Anko, waving her hand in front of his face.

"Hokage-sama? Uchiha Sasuke's battle is about to start," said Ibiki, noticing Anko's efforts to get the Sandaime to respond.

To their relief, the Hokage blinked.

"Hm? What is it?" he asked gruffly.

"Uchiha Sasuke's battle is about to start," said Anko.

"Oh. Thank you for waking me up," said the Hokage.

'_He was asleep? With his eyes open? How long was he asleep?_' thought the other two.

-o-o-o-

**Author's Notes**

(1) Seriously, if you're going to disguise yourself, don't disguise yourself as someone that looks similar to you!

(2) Hayate sounds like he has a lisp

(3) Those of you who have seen FMA, I was thinking of a highly-detailed transmutation circle

It's a cliffie! Sorry if it's moving too fast for you, but I'm trying to get past the Third Exam with the least amount of writing as possible. Almost all the battles take about an episode long… Except Kankurou, who won in like five minutes. I was kind of disappointed with this chapter ***sigh***

**I still want to hear your guesses on who Kagome will have a crush on! **

Ja ne! ^ ^


	10. Chapter IX: Preliminaries Part II

Yes! More people got it right! And thank you for liking the last chapter, 'cuz I kinda hurried through it, what with all the matches going on and stuff. And there are more…;-_-;

Disclaimer: The cops caught up with me! I don't own InuYasha or Naruto! ***shoots machine gun and laughs like maniac*** You'll never catch me alive, coppers!

"talking"

'_thinking_'

'**Bijuu talking to host**'

**Chapter Nine: Preliminaries (Part II)**

-o-o-o-

Ore tachi no ima ga  
Omoi kasane, yume wo kasane, hibi wo kasane  
Ase ni mamire, namida korae, chi wo tagi rase  
Tatakau koto mo, aishi au koto mo  
Haruka hikari no  
ON THE WAY

This is our 'now'  
Overlap our feeling, overlap the dream, overlap the days  
Sweating, holding the tears, stirring the blood  
Fighting and loving  
It's just a far light  
On the way

~ 'R*O*C*K*S' (Naruto Opening Theme 1)  
Inoue Kazuhiko (1)

-o-o-o-

"Sakura-chan's at an advantage!" said Naruto excitedly as he watched hers and Ino's match.

"Baka," said Shikamaru.

"What did you say?" asked Naruto angrily.

"If you're not an idiot, you must be sleeping," said Shikamaru with his usual bored voice.

"Who's…" began Naruto, his ears starting to twitch when he heard another voice speak behind him.

"They're kunoichi, after all. Their physical combat skills are lower than normal," said the voice.

Naruto turned with anger toward Neji, who had spoken. Kagome eyebrow began to twitch with anger.

"Are you willing to bet that? Maybe you and I should have a fight right now, slug boy," said Kagome, clenching her fists.

"Don't call me that," said Neji.

"Slug boy! Slug boy! Slug boy!" chanted Kagome loudly, but Neji managed to ignore it somehow.

"It's not because they are kunoichi," said Tenten, also angry at her teammate.

"Huh?" said Naruto, forgetting his anger.

Tenten turned back to watch the match and said, "Those two are just soft against each other. Sex doesn't matter in battle."

She looked back at Naruto, who glanced at the match and back.

"Soft…?" he said, not really understanding.

Everyone watched in surprise when Ino slapped Sakura across the cheek, apparently by accident.

"That's why," said Kagome.

Sakura and Ino stared at each other for a few seconds, and then Sakura lifted up her chin and clenched her fists.

"Now that it's come to this," she said confidently, "I have no intention of fighting you over Sasuke-kun."

"What?" said Ino loudly.

"You and Sasuke just don't match! I'm also stronger than you now. You're not even a rival!" said Sakura spitefully.

"Sakura!" shouted Ino, thoroughly pissed-off, "Do you know who you're talking to like that? You crybaby, Sakura!"

Sakura just glared.

"Like… Like, I think Sakura-chan said too much. Ino looks scary with those eyes," said Naruto, glancing at Kakashi.

"Hmm, that's wrong," said Kakashi.

"Huh?"

"Sakura isn't the type who would brag about her power and hurt another without any reason. She doesn't want Ino to go easy on her," said Kakashi.

Kagome chuckled, making Kakashi glance at her.

"Iie, I just know how she feels," said Kagome, waving her hands in front of her, "I usually have to convince every person I battle that I'm not weak!"

"You're so tsuyoi (strong), Kagome-chan!" said Naruto for the billionth time that day.

"You keep telling me that, Naruto-kun, but I don't think so. That's why I train hard, to keep getting stronger and stronger," said Kagome, smiling nervously.

"Now, we should watch and see Sakura-san get stronger, ne?" she told him, wanting him to watch his teammate than talk to her.

Naruto nodded and turned back to watch the match, much to her relief. She hated it when attention was focused on her. It made her very self-conscious.

-o-o-o-

"Both are unable to fight," said Hayate, "Due to a double KO, no one passes the fourth preliminary match."

'_They knocked each other out? That's kind of lame,_' thought Kagome.

There were exclaims and clamors, and Kakashi and Asuma went down to retrieve Sakura and Ino's unconscious bodies.

"Now then," said Asuma, as he picked up Ino.

"Yare yare (oh, boy)," said Kakashi, and both went up to the balcony in a flash.

"Oi, Ino!" yelled Shikamaru, as he and Chouji ran to the other member of their team.

"Sakura-san!" said Lee.

"Sakura-chan!" said Naruto.

They all grouped around the unconscious girls, except Kagome, who hung back.

"Daijoubu ka?" said Naruto, sounding like he was about to cry.

Kakashi put a finger up to his covered lips and said, "Shh."

Asuma stood and said, "They don't even require medical treatment. They'll wake up in a bit. But I was surprised."

"Yeah," said Kakashi, "I knew that Naruto and Sasuke got stronger, but I didn't expect the unreliable Sakura to become stronger as well. A lot happened, but I'm glad, from the bottom of my heart, that I entered them in this Chuunin exam."

The screen flashed and it said 'Tenten vs. Temari'. The two opponents went down and faced each other, and Asuma's and Kakashi's teams went back to watch. Kagome stayed and crouched down in front of the two girls.

'_So you were friends once, were you? I'm glad that you had each other when you were younger. I didn't have anyone,_' she thought, and a familiar, suffocating pain came into her chest.

She clutched where her heart was and gritted her teeth. It was a feeling she had known all her life, and even after she had found people that cared for her, most of them, except maybe InuYasha, never really understood her. Hence the returning loneliness.

'_I used to hate people like you, that had others to care for them. Even now I envy you. But you're not so bad, Sakura. I wish you would be my friend,_' thought Kagome, standing with her bangs shadowing her eyes.

She stuck her hands in her pockets and sighed silently. Glancing at Naruto, she found that he was engrossed in the battle before him. She didn't really feel like staying over here anymore, but she hadn't to begin with. Over here, there were people with probing eyes. She began to walk the long walk back over to her team, and no one really noticed.

"What's the matter with you?" asked InuYasha when she approached him on the other balcony.

"Nothing. Just a familiar feeling, is all," she said, and sat down cross-legged on the floor.

She grasped one of the bars that connected from the railing to the floor of the balcony with both her hands, and leaned her forehead against it. Her eyes were far away, even though the battle in front of her was becoming quite heated and Gai and Lee were yelling their heads off.

InuYasha nudged Miroku and said, "Looks like she's in one of _those_ moods again."

Not even looking away from her far away place, Kagome reached out two fingers and gave his leg a zap with her reiki.

"Go away. Don't talk about me. I'm sick of hearing about me," she muttered.

InuYasha didn't even say anything about the zap, despite that the area she had touched had gone numb. His eyes softened a little. He understood; she was feeling lonely, a feeling he knew as well. All throughout his childhood, he had had no one to play with, and his older brother had ignored him. Since he was a noble's child, he wasn't allowed to play with the 'common' children outside the gates of the manor, though the Inu no Taishou probably would have allowed him if he had known how lonely his son was. And then came Kagome.

It had taken a while, but they had become thicker than thieves, and started all sorts of mischief in Tsukigakure. They would get disciplined by the Tsukikage, and then they would all laugh about it later. The mischief was even better when Miroku came along with them, who had been hesitant at first, but found that he liked to play pranks, as well. And Kagome was always loyal and took the blame for all of them.

InuYasha sat down next to Kagome. He didn't say anything but just watched the match. She preferred to be left alone when she was 'moping', as InuYasha called it. After that, Miroku sat down on Kagome's other side. He didn't say anything either, but pretended that Kagome wasn't there. After a few minutes, a small smile appeared on her face.

"Arigatou," she said quietly.

-o-o-o-

Lee jumped down and caught Tenten as Temari hurled her from the end of her iron fan. He lowered Tenten to the ground among her scattered weapons.

Temari smirked and said, "Nice catch."

Lee shook his fist at her and said, "Why did you do that? Is that something you should do to someone that fought her hardest?

Temari slammed the end of her fan against the ground and said, "Urusai na. Take that piece of trash and leave."

Lee growled in anger and got up.

"Stop, Lee!" shouted Neji, but it was too late.

Lee ran towards Temari.

"Konoha Senpuu (Leaf Whirlwind)!" he said, twirling with his leg out.

Temari blocked his outstretched leg with her fan with a loud clang.

"Nani?" he said.

"You're just like how you look; you're stupid," said Temari.

"What did you say?" said Lee angrily, and he landed back on the ground.

"Yameru (stop), Lee," ordered Gai as he appeared in a flash near his student.

"Gai-sensei!" said Lee.

"Tch!" said Temari in annoyance.

"Temari," said Gaara from above, "come back here. You won. Stop dealing with that ugly guy who's with his guardian."

Kagome, who was no longer 'moping', shivered and thought, '_Kuso, I knew these guys were like this. They're pretty ruthless, no matter when._'

"Nani?" said Lee, glaring up at Gaara.

The two proceeded in having a glaring match. While Lee's was heated, Gaara's was as cold as the ice that Kagome could summon.

Putting his hand on Lee's shoulder, Gai said, "Just let it go, Lee."

Then Gai smirked and said, "Suna no shokun (gentlemen of the Sand), if I may warn you about one thing? He's tsuyoi. You better be prepared for it."

Gaara narrowed his eyes at Gai.

"Is he stupid or what? Is he _trying_ to get himself killed?" said Kagome quietly.

"They're trying to pick a fight with the guys from Suna? I'll _never_ want to fight them," said Kiba.

"They have amazing people," stuttered Hinata quietly.

Akamaru whimpered in his spot down Kiba's jacket. Naruto was glaring at the Sunagakure nin.

"Don't lose to them, Naruto."

"Huh? Sakura-chan?" said Naruto with surprise, when he saw the pink-haired kunoichi standing next to him.

"Sakura-chan, ne, are you okay now?" asked Naruto.

"Don't worry about that, worry about yourself," said Sakura.

"Huh? Me?" said Naruto, checking himself for injuries, "I'm not hurt."

"That's not it," said Sakura with exasperation, "If you lose here, you're going to be a disgrace. You won't be able to face Sasuke-kun."

"Okay," said Naruto, pouting.

"Also, thanks for before. If I didn't have your passionate support, I might've lost to Ino easily," said Sakura.

"Un, you're right," said Naruto a little bit stupidly.

"Damn him," growled Sakura, looking away with her fist clenched.

The screen flickered and said 'Nara Shikamaru vs. Kin Tsuchi'.

-o-o-o-

"Heh heh, one down," said Shikamaru, who was bent over backwards.

He had used his shadow jutsu to make Kin Tsuchi hit her head on the wall behind her, knocking herself out. Shikamaru flipped up from his position and stood upright.

"Shinobi need to grasp the landscape and situation, then fight. Even if we move the same, our distances to the walls are different. I just used the shuriken to get your attention away from the wall," said Shikamaru, scratching the back of his head.

"Winner, Nara Shikamaru," said Hayate.

"Oi, Kagome, you and him should play shogi (Japanese chess) sometime," said Miroku.

"Way to go, Shikamaru!" shouted Ino.

"You're cool!" said Chouji.

"I'm next, I'm next, I'm next," chanted Lee, wanting his battle to be next.

"He looks dull, but that was kind of cool. Kuso," mumbled Naruto.

"So I'm the only one remaining," said Dosu to himself.

"Now for the next match," said Hayate, and the screen began flickering again.

"Now we have one Oto nin, me, Hinata, Naruto, Chouji, Neji, Lee, and seven of those Tsuki nin. And that Suna guy. Please don't let me match up with that Suna guy," said Kiba, counting down on his fingers.

"It looks like I can have nice battles with the rookies this year," said Neji, and looked at Hinata.

He stared at her until she noticed. When she did, she gasped, and then looked away, her eyes moving frantically.

The screen beeped and said 'Hanagami Kikyou vs. Kumonosu Hakudoushi'.

"Aww, c'mon," said Naruto.

"I wasn't next. Sakura-san will call me fuzzy-brows and hate me. If I'm not next, Sakura-san…" said Lee.

'_This Lee boy is just like the young him,_' thought Kakashi, as he looked at Gai.

Gai noticed, and smiled a toothy smile while giving a thumbs-up. Kakashi sweatdropped.

"Don't lose, Kikyou," said Kouga.

Kikyou 'hmphed' and stuck her nose up in the air. She walked down. Kanna gave her twin a nod that said 'good luck', and Hakudoushi hefted his naginata (which was a pole weapon similar to a spear) while he jumped down.

"Oi! Kikyou-san! You're looking exceptionally bitchy today!" Kagome called down to Kikyou.

Kikyou gritted her teeth and glared up at Kagome, while Kagome had to dodge a punch from InuYasha. InuYasha had a crush on Kikyou, and the older girl just ignored him.

"Oi! Kikyou-san! Had any chocolates lately?" Kagome called down again, from a much further distance from InuYasha.

Kikyou turned a noticeable shade of green.

She looked up at Kagome and growled, "Urusai, you street gaki!"

Kagome mocked gasped and turned to Miroku, saying, "Did you hear that? Did hear what she called me?"

"That's because it's true," muttered InuYasha, who then gave a yelp of pain when Kagome dug her heel into his toes.

Kagome grinned and lay her head down on her arms on the railing in front of her. She proceeded in making various faces at Kikyou.

'_That girl seems to take a lot of joy in pissing people off,_' thought Kakashi, who had noticed a while ago that Kagome had returned to her team.

"Oi! Kikyou-san, do you–" began Kagome, but was interrupted.

"That's it!" said InuYasha, and actually managed to grab Kagome by the collar of her shirt and pick her up.

"Oi! Lemme go!"

"Let her go, InuYasha, before she does lasting damage to you," said Miroku nonchalantly.

As if to make a point, Kagome made her hand glow blue with her reiki, and InuYasha dropped her like a hot potato.

"Itai…" said Kagome, rubbing her sore bottom.

Sesshoumaru actually rolled his eyes.

-o-o-o-

"Taku, that was a boring battle," muttered Kagome.

Kikyou had won against Hakudoushi by using the twin hand fans she had stuffed inside her fighting kimono. She actually excelled in Fuuton (Wind Release). Hakudoushi's lightning jutsu hadn't been enough against her.

"Shaddup!" said InuYasha, aiming a fist at Kagome's head.

Kagome caught his wrist and twisted it. She let go when he made a sound of pain.

"Oi! Kikyou-san! I didn't know you were capable of winning. But we all know you cheated, so it's all cool," called Kagome.

Kikyou glared.

"Baka! There are no rules!" said InuYasha.

"It doesn't mean you can't play dirty," said Kagome.

The screen flashed and names began to sort through. Finally, it said 'Shizei Bankotsu vs. Taishou InuYasha'.

"Finally!" said InuYasha loudly, while Lee and Naruto looked like they were about to cry.

"You'd better not lose," Kagome threatened.

"Yeah, right. When I'm up against _that_ dork," said InuYasha, waving a hand at Bankotsu, "there's no way in hell that I will."

Like Kagome, he jumped over the railing to get to the ground floor. He stepped up to Bankotsu and looked at the huge sword that resembled a halberd that the other was holding. InuYasha unsheathed Tetsusaiga, and it transformed into its released form.

"Those are huge weapons!" said Sakura, her eyes bugging out.

InuYasha looked from Tetsusaiga to Bankotsu's Banryuu (Prohibition Flow?) (2), which was the name of the other's weapon.

"I think mine is bigger than yours," said InuYasha.

-o-o-o-

InuYasha was using his katana for a support, panting heavily. Blood trickled out of both corners of his mouth, and he had various rips in his clothing. Bankotsu lay crumpled on his side, unconscious.

"Teme…the Taishou clan ain't pushovers," muttered InuYasha, wiping his mouth with his sleeve.

Gekkou Hayate went forward and checked Bankotsu to make sure that he was out for good. Finally, he stood and gestured towards InuYasha.

"The winner of the eighth match is Taishou InuYasha," he said.

And it was at that moment that InuYasha chose to vomit blood. It splattered all down his front, which blended in quite nicely, and onto the floor before him.

"InuYasha!" cried Kagome, horrified.

Before anyone could stop her, she was over the side of the railing and next to her teammate in a flash.

"InuYasha! Daijoubu ka?" she said when she reached him.

"What are you talking about? I'm fine," panted InuYasha, before vomiting again.

"You have internal bleeding!" said Kagome, holding a hand powered with reiki over his stomach.

"I said I'm–" began InuYasha, before passing out.

Kagome caught him and held him up.

"Medics! Get in here!" she shouted over her shoulder.

The three medics came running in with two stretchers. Since InuYasha was in the direst situation, they loaded him up first. Kagome stared after InuYasha in disbelief. That was the worse she had ever seen him.

"You'd better come back alive, Taishou InuYasha!" she yelled after him, even though she knew he couldn't hear her.

Sulkily, she stomped her way back upstairs, carrying his Tetsusaiga, which had once again become small and rusty.

"Oi! Kagome-chan! Is he going to be okay?" asked Naruto from across the way.

"Hai!" said Kagome cheerfully, so not to worry him.

"I hope so," she muttered in a much quieter voice, once she was turned away.

The screen flashed and stopped at 'Uzumaki Naruto vs. Inuzuka Kiba'.

"My turn! My turn! My turn!" yelled Naruto excitedly, "Thank you for waiting! It's finally my turn!"

"Hell yeah! We got lucky! We can win against him for sure, Akamaru," said Kiba, and Akamaru yipped in agreement.

Naruto continued to yell and cheer in excitement, while Lee looked like he wanted to curl up into a nearby corner and bawl his eyes out.

"Do your best, Naruto," said Sakura encouragingly.

"Just leave it to me!" said Naruto.

'_Saa (now), Naruto. Show me how much you've grown,_' thought Kakashi.

"I'll do this!" said Naruto, clenching his fist in front of him.

"Good luck, Naruto-kun!" called Kagome from across the way.

Naruto grinned and chuckled. He went down to the stairs and stood across from Kiba.

"Ninth match, Uzumaki Naruto versus Inuzuka Kiba," said Hayate.

"I'm tired from all that waiting! It's finally my turn to show off my moves!" yelled Naruto.

"That's my line!" said Kiba angrily and pointing at Naruto, "Drawing you as my opponent means I've already won! Ne, Akamaru?"

A yip came from Akamaru and a tick mark appeared on Naruto's head. He pointed at Kiba.

"Keep dreaming! You can't win against me!" he yelled.

"Why you–!" said Kiba, setting down Akamaru.

"Hora! Don't bring koinu (puppies) in here! He's going to interfere with the battle!" said Naruto.

"Baka yarou, Akamaru's going to fight, too," said Kiba, and Akamaru barked viciously in answer.

"Oi, oi!" said Naruto, turning to Hayate, "Is that okay?"

"Hai, animals and mushi (bugs) are treated as weapons. It isn't a problem," said Hayate, actually looking a bit irritated for a split second.

Naruto stared at him with disbelief and then said, "Oh, well! It's a good handicap!"

"Heh! Acting tough, eh?" said Kiba, smirking at Naruto.

"Then…" he said, standing and turning to Akamaru, "Akamaru, don't do anything. I'll do this alone."

Akamaru whined.

"Naruto! Don't lose to that guy!" shouted Sakura.

'_It's finally his turn,_' thought Kakashi.

'_Naruto, ka?_' thought Kurenai, '_Sorry to say this, but he can't defeat Kiba, Kakashi._'

'_Naruto-kun, I want to cheer you on, but I'm on Kiba-kun's team, so Kiba-kun might be mad, demo…_' thought Hinata.

'_Naruto-kun,_' thought Lee.

"Kiba's…lucky," said Chouji, and Shikamaru scoffed.

'_Hmph. I don't know how much stronger he got after becoming a Genin… His original abilities were…_' thought Kiba, picturing Naruto's feeble skills at transformation.

"I'll beat you in one hit out of pity," said Kiba.

"Oh? Whatever, but you can't defeat me," said Naruto confidently.

"I told you not to act tough!" yelled Kiba, and Akamaru barked in agreement.

Hayate looked at them and said, "Then…begin."

Kiba squatted and made a hand seal.

'_Gijyuu Ninpou: Shikyaku no Jutsu (Ninja Art of Beast Mimicry: Four Legs Technique),_' thought Kiba.

Chakra began to flow around him, and Naruto looked at him in surprise. Kiba went down on all fours, his nails lengthening into claws.

"Let's go," he said, and charged.

-o-o-o-

Naruto hit the ground with a thud, and lay facedown, unmoving.

"That's our difference in skill," said Kiba.

"I'm…going to become a Hokage…I can't lose here…" said Naruto.

"You? Hokage? When you're weaker than me?" said Kiba, chuckling, "I'll become Hokage for you! You know inside that you can't become Hokage, so stop acting tough!"

He began to laugh out loud with his head thrown back. Naruto couldn't stand it; the laughing reminded him too much of his Academy years.

'_That's wrong, Kiba-kun. Naruto-kun…isn't that weak. Naruto-kun is different from me in that he believes in his own worth. I really think he's amazing. It's a very hard thing to do. I understand. But still, no one tried to look at the true Naruto-kun. No one tried to recognize the real Naruto-kun. But now, everyone is watching,_' thought Hinata.

"Teme! Urusai na!" shouted Kagome.

Kiba stopped laughing and looked up at her.

"Urusai. This isn't your fight," said Kiba.

"The hell it isn't! How dare you say such things to Naruto-kun! How _dare_ you try and ruin his dream! You had no right, you coward!" shouted Kagome, and Kiba gritted his teeth in annoyance.

She turned to Naruto and said loudly, "Stand up, Naruto-kun! Get up and prove to everyone here that you can become Hokage! I know you can do it! Get up!"

To everyone else's – especially Kiba's – surprise, Naruto began to push himself back up.

"Hai! Stand up, Naruto!" shouted Sakura.

'_Everyone has recognized him,_' thought Hinata.

Naruto stood up, his head bowed so that you couldn't see his eyes. There was blood trickling out of both corners of his mouth.

"If you compete with me over the title of Hokage, you're going to become the underdog," he said, looking up with a smirk.

"Yeah! Naruto-kun! Kick his ass!" cheered Kagome.

"Has anyone ever told you that you cuss almost _worse_ than InuYasha?" Miroku asked her out of the corner of his mouth.

-o-o-o-

"Too slow! Take this!" shouted Kiba as he charged toward Naruto.

He charged around Naruto and aimed for the blonde's back end, but an unexpected sound went through the air. It was unmistakably the sound of a fart. Naruto made a sound of embarrassment and surprise, and Kiba froze and jumped back when the smell hit his sensitive nose. He held his nose and made cries of disgust. Everyone else gaped in disbelief, and Hinata even blushed.

Miroku noticed that Kagome's shoulders were shaking and leaned over to peer into her face.

"Kagome-sama…?" he said.

Then he noticed that she was biting her lower lip and her face was red. And she was also smiling. She was apparently trying not to laugh out loud.

'_Fast movement and a keen nose… The Gijyuu Ninpou turned against him,_' thought Kakashi.

'_Kiba's sense of smell is amplified by a few thousand times right now,_' thought Kurenai.

Kakashi watched Kiba hold his nose and thought, '_Maa, that fart must've been a coincidence, but he _is_ the number one ninja in surprising people_."

"Naruto!" shouted Sakura, "Now's your chance!"

Naruto looked up at her and back at Kiba, saying, "Kuso, I strained too much!"

He made a hand seal and said, "But this is the good part of my new move! Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

Four Kage Bunshin appeared next to Naruto, two on either side of him.

'_Naruto-kun!_' thought Hinata.

"Yoshi, I'll get you for what you did to me with this move!" said Naruto, his Kage Bunshin surrounding Kiba in a circle.

Kiba looked around for an exit, didn't find one, and thought, '_Kuso…_'

One of Naruto's clones punched Kiba in the face and said, "U!"

The original Naruto jumped off of Kiba's back and flipped into a ball in the air. The other three remaining clones closed in on Kiba.

"Zu!" said one.

"Ma!" said another.

"Ki!" said the last clone, and they all kicked Kiba into the air at the same time.

The original Naruto had his kick outstretched, and he kicked Kiba's face as he came down.

"Naruto Rendan (Naruto Combo)!" said Naruto as he kicked Kiba.

Kiba was sent flying face first into the concrete with a good amount of force, and blood spurted everywhere. When Kiba didn't move, Naruto stood panting over his still body.

'_New move, eh? He _was_ watching Sasuke's move a while ago. And the naming is a copy, too,_' thought Kakashi with exasperation.

Naruto dispelled his Kage Bunshin. Hayate walked up and rolled Kiba over so that he could see Kiba's face. Kiba winced in pain. Hayate looked at Naruto and coughed a couple of times. Then he stood and backed away.

"Winner, Uzumaki Naruto."

Lee made some weird victory sound that was reminiscent of a dying chicken.

"All right, damn it! Good! Yatta!" shouted Sakura with glee.

"That Naruto beat Kiba!" said Shikamaru shakily.

"No one expected it," said Chouji.

"Un," said Ino, nodding and smiling.

'_Yes!_' thought Hinata, nodding as well.

"You did it, Naruto-kun! I knew you could!" shouted Kagome.

Naruto stood panting and staring at his hand. Kakashi smiled at his student, his one visible eye making a 'U' shape.

Naruto clenched his fist and thought, '_I've…become stronger._'

As the medics put Kiba on a stretcher, Naruto ran back up the stairs and was laughing to himself.

"Easy! Easy!" he said.

Hinata, who had taken out her jar of ointment, watched him approach and thought, '_What should I do…? What should I do…?_'

Naruto strode confidently past her and she managed to say, "N-naruto-kun…"

"Huh?" said Naruto, stopping, "Hinata? Did you say something?"

Naruto watched a little impatiently as she twiddled her fingers.

"A-ano…" she said, and gulped.

She walked over to him and presented the jar of ointment.

'_Hinata,_' thought Kurenai.

Kagome came running up, a big smile on her face. She stopped by Hinata, and frowned in puzzlement, looking back and forth from the Hyuuga girl and Naruto. Then understanding dawned on her face and she smiled again.

"What's this?" said Naruto, squinting at the jar of ointment.

"An ointment," said Kurenai.

"Why me?" said Naruto.

Hinata turned red, and Naruto continued to stare at the jar of ointment.

"Just take it, Naruto," said Kurenai, not unkindly.

Naruto looked at Hinata's sensei, then nodded.

"Okay. Thanks! You're a good person, Hinata," said Naruto, taking the jar into his hands.

He began scratching the back of his head and Hinata smiled shyly. Meanwhile, Neji was glaring at Hinata.

'_You seem so carefree, Hinata-sama,_' he thought menacingly.

"Congratulations, Naruto-kun! I knew you would make it!" said Kagome, giving Naruto a careful hug – he had injuries, after all – much to several peoples' surprise.

"Arigatou, Kagome-chan!" said Naruto, chuckling.

"It's nice of you to give him an ointment. Did you make it?" asked Kagome as she turned to Hinata.

"H-hai," said Hinata, blushing and looking at her feet.

"Ano sa, ano sa, I want to go see Sakura-chan!" said Naruto, and tugged Kagome along with him by the wrist.

Kagome waved apologetically to Hinata and let herself get dragged off. She was finally let go when Naruto began talking to Sakura and Lee.

Sakura finally noticed Kagome and said, "Don't you have something else to do than bug us?"

Kagome frowned and pretended to be in deep thought.

"Eto…nope! Unless Miroku happens to be carrying around a shogi set, which I doubt," said Kagome.

She turned to her teammate across the way and yelled, "Oi, Miroku! You wouldn't happen to have a shogi set on you, by any chance?"

Miroku gave her a mischievous look and said, "Iie! But I do have this really interesting book, if you–"

"No, thank you!" said Kagome angrily, knowing that he was talking about his Icha Icha book.

"Hora (see)? I don't have anything else better to do," said Kagome, smiling cutely at a fuming Sakura.

Naruto unscrewed the lid of the jar of ointment and put some on his cuts he had gotten from Kiba. The cut steamed and healed up instantaneously.

"This medicine works so well," said Naruto, putting the lid back on.

He thrust it towards Sakura and said, "Here. Do you want to use it, too, Sakura-chan?"

"Hm?" said Sakura, staring at the jar warily.

'_You're about the only guy whose wounds heal that quickly, Naruto,_' thought Kakashi, '_The power of Kyuubi still amazes me._'

"Can I see it?" asked Kagome.

Naruto held out the jar to her, which she promptly opened. She took out a little bit on the end of her index finger, and to everyone else's confusion, sniffed it.

"Tochibaninjin (ginseng)…suikazura (Japanese honeysuckle)…tanpopo (dandelion)…and daiou (rhubarb)… Hinata-chan really covered everything," said Kagome, screwing the lid back on.

"How do you know what's in it?" asked Lee.

"Part of my training back home focused on learning herbs and their uses," said Kagome, rubbing the back of her neck.

"I had to learn how to identify them by sight, taste, and smell in all forms, like in tea. In ointment, smell is the most reliable. Kaede-sama, who taught me about herbs, was very strict when it came it memorizing herbs and their uses," explained Kagome.

"What happened when you got an herb wrong?" asked Naruto.

"She whacked me on the head with a stick," said Kagome, earning a few sweatdrops.

"She sounds like a scary onna," said Lee.

"Iie, she's actually nice most of the time. She was the one who gave me the kotodama no nenju (necklace of subjugation), the necklace that InuYasha was wearing. It was to help keep him in line while we were away from our country," said Kagome.

"'Kotodama no nenju'?" said Naruto, squinting and pouting.

"Ano, it made him crash to the ground when I said 'osuwari'," said Kagome, laughing nervously.

"Ah!" said Naruto, pounding a fist into his palm.

"Ne, Kagome-chan? Could your Kaede-sama give one of those rosaries to me?" he asked.

"Iie, if you're thinking of putting one on that Sasuke guy," said Kagome sternly.

"Awww…"

"I will now announce the next match," called Hayate.

Everyone became alert and watched the electronic screen. It stopped on 'Hyuuga Hinata vs. Hyuuga Neji'. Hinata looked quite shocked and scared, and Neji looked angry. But they went and took their places across from each other, anyway.

"I didn't think that I would be fighting you, Hinata-sama," said Neji.

"Neji-nii-san," said Hinata quietly.

"Nii-san?" said Sakura.

"Eh? Those two are siblings?" said Naruto with surprise.

"They come from Konoha's oldest noble family, the Hyuuga clan. But they aren't siblings," said Kakashi.

"Then how are they related?" asked Sakura.

"I guess they're related in that they come from Hyuuga's head family and branch family," guessed Kakashi.

"Head family and branch family?" said Naruto with a little anger.

"Hai," said Lee, holding up a finger, "Hinata-san is from the Hyuuga head family. In other words, the founders. And Neji is from the branch family, which carries the same bloodline."

"So it's a fight between relatives. It must be difficult for those two to fight," said Sakura.

"Hai, demo…" said Lee, and Naruto and Sakura looked at him with surprise.

"But I believe that a lot of things happened between the head family and the branch family in the past, and they are not really on good terms with each other."

"Huh? Nan de (why)?" asked Naruto.

"I don't know the details, but in old noble families like Uchiha and Hyuuga, they have special moves and abilities that run only in that clan. To pass those moves down, the Hyuuga family has a set of rules. But it seems that the rules are favorable to the head family," continued Lee.

"Huh?" said Naruto and Sakura.

"Because of those rules, a lot happened between the head family and the branch family," finished Lee.

"Must be a fight to settle the quarrels, then," said Sakura.

"Iie," said Kagome.

"Doushite?" asked Sakura.

"Just one fight isn't going to settle it, and family feuds last a long time. Also, Hyuuga Neji appears to hate Hinata-chan," said Kagome, her eyes narrowed downwards.

Naruto and Sakura glanced at Neji, but they couldn't find any difference in his facial expressions or posture. How did she know?

"Oh? It's going to start," said Kakashi.

"Please begin the match," said Hayate.

"Before we fight, let me warn you about one thing, Hinata-sama," said Neji, making Hinata gasp.

"Give up. You're not suited to become a shinobi."

Hinata gasped again, her pale eyes wide.

"You are too kind," continued Neji, "You seek harmony and avoid trouble. And you just go along and follow someone else's idea. And, you have no self-confidence. You always feel inferior. That's why you thought it would be fine to remain a Genin. But you cannot register for the Chuunin exam unless there are three people. You couldn't refuse the offers from Kiba and your teammate, and the truth is that you are taking this exam unwillingly. Am I wrong?"

"You're wrong! You're wrong… I…I just…wanted to change myself, so I willingly…" said Hinata.

'_Hinata… Hinata is trying to change herself in her own way,_' thought Kurenai.

Neji stared at Hinata's wavering eyes.

"Hinata-sama," he began in a consoling tone, "You are indeed a spoiled child from the head family."

"Eh?" said Hinata.

"People cannot change. A failure is a failure. His personality and power will not change," said Neji.

Naruto gritted his teeth and made an ugly face.

'_That guy…_' he thought.

There was a creak of metal from his left from Kagome, and several people glanced curiously at her. There was no emotion on her face; her eyes were cold. Naruto's eyes went down to her hand gripping the rail, and saw to his astonishment that she had actually crushed it a little.

"People cannot change, so that's why terms like 'elites' and 'failures' exist," said Neji, "Everyone judges you by how good your face, head, abilities, body shape, and personality are. There are things that cannot be changed. People suffer due to their limits, and live. Just like how we can't change the fact that I am from the branch family and you are from the head family. My Byakugan has seen many things. That's why I know! You are just trying to be tough. You are really thinking about how you want to leave this place right now."

Hinata, who had been gaping in horror, said, "That's not true! I really want to…"

"Byakugan?" said Sakura, turning to Kakashi.

"It is said that if you look at the origin of the Uchiha clan, they come from the Hyuuga clan. Byakugan is one of the kekkei genkai that the Hyuuga family has, and is a special eye similar to the Sharingan. But if you look at it's ability of insight alone, it exceeds the Sharingan," explained Kakashi.

Hinata trembled in terror as Neji made a hand seal.

"Byakugan!"

-o-o-o-

Neji sent Hinata flying, causing her to cry out in pain. She fell to the floor, and he stepped forward.

"Hinata-sama, this is the difference in our unchangeable powers. It's the difference that separates the elites from the dropouts. This is the unchangeable reality. You were destined to regret this when you said that you didn't want to run away. You should be in despair right now," he said.

Hinata kneeled and panted all the while, blood trickling out of her mouth.

"This is your last warning. Give up," said Neji, stepping forward some more.

"I'm…" began Hinata, making Neji narrow his eyes, "not going to…take back…my…words… That's my nindou."

She managed to push herself up and stand while she said this. Hinata looked at Neji defiantly, and looked up at Naruto. She smiled at him.

"I didn't know that Hinata was so tough," said Naruto quietly.

"She's very similar to you," said Lee.

Sakura nodded and said, "Come to think of it, she's always been watching you."

"Eh?" said Naruto with surprise.

He and Lee looked back down at the two Hyuuga members.

'_Hinata…_' he thought.

Hinata summoned up her Byakugan again, and Neji moved in response.

"Come," he said.

Suddenly, Hinata's heart gave a painful jolt, and she clutched it. She gave a cough and blood spurted out of her mouth. Several people looked on with worry.

'_She can't fight anymore. If she takes anymore attacks…_' thought Kurenai.

Neji got into the traditional Hyuuga fighting pose.

'_Neji's attacks strike the tenketsu and have completely stopped Hinata's flow of chakra. In other words, she is unable to use Juuken (Gentle Fist) moves which force chakra into the enemy. It's clear who will win. But, I didn't know that such a guy existed. Our Sasuke won't be a match for him,_' thought Kakashi.

'_Neji will most likely get through this exam. I guess a person at her level cannot win against him,_' thought Gai.

"His eyes are scary… Hinata won't be killed, right?" Ino asked Asuma.

"His strength is, like, unfair. He's too strong," said Sakura.

Naruto gritted his teeth and clenched the jar of ointment in his hand tightly.

"Hinata!" he yelled, "Do your best!"

'_Naruto-kun…_' thought Hinata, determination filling her.

Neji blinked and thought, '_Power has once again returned to her eyes._'

Hinata attacked.

As she fought, she thought, '_I have watched you all this time. I have watched you for many years. I wonder why… I don't know why, but…when I watch Naruto-kun, I feel more courage within me. It makes me feel like I can accomplish something if I try. It makes me feel like I am worth something!_'

She missed hitting Neji, who took his chance to use his palm to hit her on the chin. Hinata went flying backwards. Kakashi and Sakura gasped.

"Hinata!" cried Naruto.

Hinata winced in pain and began to cough again.

'_Hinata,_' thought Kurenai, '_you were used to giving up, but you started to try and change after some time. Of all people, I know that you trained a lot. But you made a lot of mistakes during missions. You weren't good in real-life situations and got depressed easily. But you're different today, Hinata. I've never seen her with those eyes._'

Hinata panted and then took off after Neji again.

'_Naruto-kun, I have only been watching you. But I…I finally…Naruto-kun!_' she thought.

Once again, she missed, and Neji dealt her deadly blow from which you could see chakra explode from.

"Hinata-chan!" gasped Kagome.

Hinata was unmoving, and then her Byakugan faltered. She coughed out more blood and began to fall. She fell on her stomach with her hand still outstretched as if to hit Neji. Neji stepped to the side and looked down at her. Everyone gaped, and even Gaara looked like he pitied Hinata a little.

"You are such a stubborn person. Your attacks had no effect on me to begin with. It's over," said Neji, and his Byakugan went away just before he walked away from her still body.

'_Hinata, you've done enough. You lost the match, but are different from before. You did well,_' thought Kurenai, closing her eyes.

Naruto thought of Hinata's words about changing herself and gripped the jar of ointment.

"That was a finishing move by Neji… He aimed for her heart. I feel sorry for her, but she cannot stand up anymore," said Gai, making Naruto clutch it even more.

Hayate stepped forward and said, "I am going to assume that she cannot fight anymore–"

"Don't stop the match!" interrupted a yelling Naruto, making everyone look at him with bewilderment.

"Don't stop the match!" he repeated.

"Chotto, Naruto," said Sakura angrily, "What are you talking about, baka? She can't fight anymore. She fainted…"

She trailed off when she noticed him smirking. Her eyes widened and she looked down. Several people gasped. Hinata was pushing herself back up. Shakily, she managed to get herself to stand, but had to stand with her knees together to balance herself. She held her side with her hand.

"Why did you stand up?" asked Neji, sounding irritated, "If you push yourself, you're really going to die."

'_I can't show such an unsightly scene…in front of the person I admire…_' thought Hinata.

"Why?" demanded Neji.

'…_who has finally looked at me…_' thought Hinata, looking up.

Neji shook with anger and summoned up his Byakugan again.

"I can still…" gasped Hinata with determination.

"There's no point in acting tough. You're barely able to stand up. I can tell with these eyes that you have carried the destiny known as the Hyuuga family. You cursed your powerlessness, and blamed yourself. But people cannot change. This is destiny. There's no need to suffer. Let yourself go," demanded Neji.

Hinata shook her head and said, "You're wrong, Neji-nii-san. Because I can see that you are suffering more than me."

"Nani?" said Neji, sounding puzzled.

"You are the one who is confused and suffering inside the fate of the head and branch families," said Hinata.

Neji narrowed his eyes and growled in anger. Hayate noticed what he was about to do and gasped. Neji actually lost his control and ran towards Hinata.

"Neji-kun, the match has ended!" said Hayate.

Neji yelled in blind anger. But before he could get any further, and before the other Jounin could get there, he was punched with enough force to send Gai, who was coming in from behind, scurrying. Neji hit the wall with a sickening thud, and the concrete cracked. He coughed up blood.

"Nani?" he gasped.

Naruto and Sakura blinked in disbelief. For standing where Neji had been before was Kagome. They glanced at where the girl had been before, but it was empty.

Kakashi, Hayate, Kurenai, and Gai gaped. The girl had moved faster than they had! They now stood in front of Hinata to guard her from attack.

Kagome was panting, though it was not from exertion. She was panting from anger. She stood with her head lowered a little, but her eyes glared murderously at Neji. She had activated her intricate Sharingan eyes, so the effect was even greater.

"If you even lay another hand on Hinata-chan," she said in a low, dangerous voice, "I _will_ kill you, Hyuuga Neji."

"How dare you interfere–!" began Neji.

"Urusai na! I don't want to hear anymore bullshit on destiny or fate or whatever the hell you were talking about," said Kagome in the same tone of voice.

"Why you–!" began Neji again, picking himself up.

"Yameru, Hyuuga-san!" came a shout from above.

To the already confused people in the auditorium, this was even more confusing, since it was the girl's remaining teammate that had yelled. Miroku looked panicked, his eyes were wide. Even the girl's sensei looked a little upset.

"Yameru! She really will kill you!" shouted Miroku fearfully, gripping the railing in his hands.

Neji lifted up his arm to attack, but Gai appeared behind him, an arm loosely around his neck. Kakashi grabbed hold of his lifted arm, and Kurenai had a hold of one of his ankles. Hayate appeared in front, two fingers out threateningly at Neji's forehead.

"Neji, cut it out. You have made a passionate promise with me that you will not argue about the head family," said Gai.

"Why did the other Jounin come out?" asked Neji angrily, "Does the head family receive special treatment?"

Hinata's heart gave another painful jolt, and she fell to her knees, coughing. Kagome was there in an instant, one of her hands on the Hyuuga girl's heart.

"Hinata! Hinata!" said Kurenai, rushing to her student, as well.

"Hinata!" shouted Naruto.

"Hinata-san!" shouted Sakura.

Them and Lee jumped down and ran to Hinata, where Kagome and Kurenai were laying her down.

"Hinata, daijoubu ka? Oi!" said Naruto, kneeling beside her.

"Naruto-kun…" said Hinata.

"Un!"

"Watashi…" said Hinata, and then fell unconscious.

"She needs medical treatment! She's going to go into cardiac arrest!" said Kagome urgently, but Kurenai just stared.

She was this close to the girl with the Sharingan, and it was a fearsome sight. To see another person other than Sasuke – who was supposed to be the only remaining Uchiha in Konoha – with the Sharingan was worrisome.

"Tch!" said Kagome, and began pumping reiki into Hinata's heart to try and stabilize it.

Naruto looked down with worry at Hinata.

"Oi, the dropout there," came Neji's voice.

Naruto turned angrily towards the Hyuuga boy.

"Let me warn you about two things. If you're a shinobi, stop with that unsightly cheering for a stranger. And one more thing. A dropout is a dropout. They cannot change," said Neji.

Naruto stood and said angrily, "Do you want to try?"

Neji smirked, Naruto narrowed his eyes, and Sakura gasped. Naruto had taken off running toward Neji. Just in time, Lee dashed in front of Naruto to stop him, making Neji's smirk disappear.

"You…!" said Naruto.

"I understand how you're feeling, Naruto-kun. But you should fight in a proper match. A dropout will defeat a genius with hard work… The main matches will be exciting. But I may be his opponent. I will hold no grudge if you were able to match up with him," said Lee.

Naruto turned away hesitantly and sighed.

"Fine," he said, folding his arms across his chest.

He walked back to Hinata.

"You there, the one that isn't supposed to have the Sharingan," said Neji.

Kagome looked up, glaring.

"Stay out of other people's business. And stop cheering, as well," said Neji.

Before people could even blink, Kagome was gone from her spot once again. She appeared in front of Neji, who held his ground. Apparently, the punch hadn't convinced him of her abilities. Kagome slapped him, hard. Several people gasped, and Gai, who was standing beside Neji, made no move to restrain her.

"Who are you to give _me_ orders, kouzou ('boy', derogatory)?" she said in a voice that reminded some of an heiress's, "I will cheer if I very damn well like, and, as I said before, I was born with these eyes. As to me getting in other people's business, you were about to kill an unarmed girl, so don't talk to me about crap like that."

Neji now looked truly shocked. He was touching the red handprint on his pale cheek. Kagome let the Sharingan fade from her eyes and bowed to Gai.

"Sumimasen for attacking your student twice," she said, and walked back to Hinata.

She got there in time, because Hinata gave a huge cough and blood spurted from her mouth. Several people looked back with fear. Kurenai unzipped her student's jacket and felt her pulse and her heart.

'_This isn't good, she's going through ventricular fibrillation_,' she thought, and looked glared at Neji, '_Was he trying to kill her?_'

Neji didn't say anything; he was still in shock from being slapped.

"Chikushou! I didn't stabilize her enough!" said Kagome, reaching for the space above Hinata's heart.

"Get your hands off of her!" said Kurenai angrily, slapping Kagome's hands away.

An image flashed behind Kagome's eyes, too brief for her to see properly. A stab of pain went through her skull. Kagome flinched away from Kurenai and stood.

"As you wish," she said emotionlessly, and walked off towards the entrance of the auditorium, her hands in her pockets and her shoulders hunched.

"K-kagome-sama! Oi!" Miroku shouted after her, but she didn't even give the slightest pause in her stride.

'_I was only trying help…_' she thought.

Kurenai stared after her; she had only been trying to keep her from worsening Hinata's condition, that was all.

She said, "Medical team! What are you doing? Hayaku (hurry)!"

Kagome went around the medics running in.

"Sumimasen!" said one.

They unrolled a stretcher, and Naruto stared at the scene before him.

"Put her on the stretcher."

"Okay."

Naruto ran over to Hinata and looked down at her.

"Together…"

"She won't last ten minutes at this rate."

"Take her to the emergency treatment room."

"Hurry!"

"Okay!" said the medics, and carried Hinata off.

Naruto looked at her form as she passed, in shock. (3)

"Hinata…" said Naruto, and Neji, who had recovered, watched him.

Naruto kneeled down next to some of Hinata's blood that was at his feet. He put his hand in it and made streaks with it on the floor with his fingers.

"I promise…" he said.

He clenched his fist, and blood dripped off. He stood and faced Neji and held out the clenched fist. Neji cocked his head in puzzlement.

"…I will win!" said Naruto.

_**Owari**_

-o-o-o-

**Omake: 'I Think Mine Is Bigger Than Yours'**

"I think mine is bigger than yours," said InuYasha.

Bankotsu looked back and forth from the two weapons, as well.

"Yeah, well, mine's thicker!" he said.

He looked at the two weapons again.

"Actually, mine's bigger than yours. It's both longer and thicker than that teeny thing you have!" he said.

"Are they actually having this conversation? Don't they realize how wrong it sounds?" said Kagome.

Miroku sweatdropped and shrugged.

"Well, they are boys," he said.

"That's not an excuse," said Kagome, looking at him out of the corner of her eye.

"Well, mine has a bigger blade than yours does!" shouted InuYasha.

'_Finally something that doesn't sound dirty,_' thought Kagome.

"What mine lacks in length, it makes up in width!" yelled Bankotsu.

'_Or not._'

-o-o-o-

**Author's Notes**

(1) I know that this song was originally by 'Hound Dog', but I like the version with Inoue Kazuhiko, Kakashi's seiyuu (voice actor), better

(2) I looked up the meaning of the kanji for Banryuu, and that's what I came up with. Weird…

(3) They focus on Hinata's boobs in this scene. It's almost like Naruto's realizing she's a girl! LOL

-o-o-o-

Phew! Kinda angsty, but we need angst once in a while. I saw a spectacular fireworks display last night, so I'm feeling pretty good, though I did wake up from a headache from all the bangs and whistles.

By the way, ventricular fibrillation is when the heart muscles tremble rather than contracting, and is a medical emergency (duh, we could tell).

Ja ne!


	11. Chapter X: Preliminaries Part III

Hello, my lovely, lovely peoples! I'm happy today because I got finally got to take a picture of the albino prairie dog that lives where I work! That kinda gives away what part of the USA I live in… -_-; Hmm… Oh, well, but he's a cutie!

Also, I was alerted to the fact that some of you might be getting pissed at the fact that I put so much Japanese in. But I don't really want to take it out, since it is more Narutoish with it.

If you want to look up a Japanese word, or an English word in Japanese, check out this site (though the word might not be in there -_-;)

**www . saiga - jp . com / kanji _ dictionary . html (Just remove the spaces)**

But check it out anyway, and just ignore the stuff that says 'stroke filter' or 'grade filter'. That's for looking up a specific kanji. For those of you that can't read hiragana or katakana, click on the speech symbol, and the romanji (Japanese written with English characters) should show up in the URL when it goes to the speech page.

It's a pretty interesting site, and it's where I find a lot of my definitions.

Disclaimer: I don't own InuYasha or Naruto! ***drives away in a getaway car and sees a field full of cows*** Cows! I hate cows more than I hate coppers! ***starts shooting at cows with a machine gun***

"talking"

'_thinking_'

'**Bijuu talking to host**'

**Chapter Ten: Preliminaries (Part III)**

-o-o-o-

Chu-bura rin na aseta hibi ga  
Irozuiteiku no ga wakattanda  
Saa mabuta wo akete  
Kodoku ni surikaeteta nakushiteta yuuki wo  
Kono te ni kakageyou  
Kimi no te wo nigitte  
Monogatari wa hajimaru

The faded days, hanging suspended in space  
I knew they were filling with color  
Now open your eyes  
Replace your loneliness with something more  
Find your lost courage, and hold it high!  
I've remembered now the tears I was holding back  
I'll take your hand and our story will begin

~ 'Chu-Bura' (Bleach Opening Theme 8)  
Kelun

-o-o-o-

Kagome splashed her face with water. It was cool and refreshing, but it didn't help her mood. She had only been trying to _help_ Hinata! And the Hyuuga girl's sensei had had distrust in her eyes.

"Keh, it's nothing that hasn't happened before," she muttered to herself.

Glancing around the bathroom, she wrinkled her nose. The smell of cleaning products and the smell of more unpleasant things it was trying to hide was murder to her sensitive nose.

She wanted to curl up in a corner and hide until the Main Exam. She didn't want to go back into the auditorium, where everyone except her team would stare at her. She hated it when people stared at her; it made her feel uncomfortable and like some kind of show freak. Also, it brought back memories of when she lived on the street.

The messed-up thing was, was that she didn't _want_ to forget her unpleasant days on the street. Even the most unpleasant memory involved her learning some new skills or discovering an ability that had helped her since then. She had started training as a kunoichi while on the streets, soon after she activated her Sharingan or whatever it was, shortly before turning five years old.

Kagome summoned chakra to her eyes, and watched the red and black pool into them. That Sasuke boy had called it 'the Sharingan'. Pinwheel-eye… It described her eyes perfectly, but there was no way that it could be the Sharingan, could it?

Why did she keep calling it 'the Sharingan'? It just couldn't be, because she was from Mizu no Kuni, and not Hi no Kuni. There was no possible way that she was related to that emotionally unbalanced kid! But even Hyuuga Neji had called it the Sharingan. It wasn't possible, was it…?

Shaking her head, she hoped to kami she wasn't related to Uchiha Sasuke. He was such a jackass to Naruto-kun.

She stared at her reflection in the mirror in the bathroom. The red contrasted sharply with her black hair with blue in it. It made her look like some kind of youkai. They had all stared at her because of these eyes. Why did people always stare at her?

"CHIKUSHOU!" shouted Kagome, punching her reflection in the mirror.

The glass spider-webbed and cracked. Shards of glass flew in every which direction, but luckily missed Kagome's face. But her fist wasn't so lucky. Shards stuck out of it, and blood pooled and dripped from the wounds they had made.

Hissing in pain, Kagome began yanking out the pieces of glass, but after she had taken out some bandages from her kunai pouch.

"Having a tough day, are we?" asked a silky, sickening voice behind Kagome.

Kagome froze, and her eyes snapped up to what was left of the mirror. It was him, the man with the long tongue. His face was different, though it matched with him now. And his voice was deeper, and talked like his sinuses were clogged up. His scent was the same, though; sickeningly sweet to the point that Kagome wanted to gag. He was leaning against the doorframe, smirking at her with his arms crossed.

"Who are you? What do you want?" snapped Kagome, holding up her bleeding fist with her other hand.

The man chuckled and pushed himself away from the wall. He stepped towards her.

"My name is Orochimaru. Yours is Higurashi Kagome, yes?" he said.

Kagome gritted her teeth. Now was definitely a bad time to be cornered by the enemy.

"You didn't answer my questions!" spat Kagome.

'Orochimaru' smirked even more and said, "I believe I answered your first one. As to what I want, that's a bit more complicated."

"I don't want to hear what you want! Leave me alone!" said Kagome loudly.

"Oh, but I think you should. You see, I've thought it over quite a bit, and I've decided that you're more valuable to me than Sasuke-kun is," said Orochimaru.

"Nani? Sasuke-kun? That gaki that has that _thing_ on his neck?" spat Kagome, getting in a defensive crouch.

Orochimaru cocked his head and gave a little laugh.

"So you noticed my little parting gift? That's very perceptive of you," he said.

"What do you want? Are you planning on putting one of those marks on my neck, too?" said Kagome, gritting her teeth.

Before she could react, Orochimaru made a hand seal. Kagome found herself unable to move. Her eyes widened.

"N-nani? What the hell did you do to me? A paralysis jutsu?" she said, trying her hardest to make her feet move.

Orochimaru walked up to her and squatted next to her, much to her horror. What was he going to do?

"Iie, you are far more important than that. I can't risk you dying from receiving that juin from me," said Orochimaru, caressing her face softly.

Kagome tried to move away from his touch. The very feeling of his touch on her skin made it crawl. She made a protesting sound.

Orochimaru tucked the bangs on one side of her face behind her ear, which happened to be the side with the scar down her jaw. He traced it with a single pale finger.

"You're a pretty little thing, aren't you? This scar makes you look exotic," he said softly, almost to himself.

"Stop touching me!" said Kagome, trying to twist away from him.

Orochimaru laughed quietly and said, "As I was saying, you are far more important to me. This is what is important to me."

He splayed his hand across her lower stomach. A horrid suspicion dawned upon Kagome, and it must have shown on her face.

"Sou, sou! You have guessed it! You have the abilities of an Uchiha; you have those eyes activated as we speak. I gave Sasuke-kun my juin, but if he should fail, _you_ are my backup plan. You are a female Uchiha, and able to bear more children with the same trait: the Sharingan," explained Orochimaru, manic light dancing in his snake-like eyes.

"You're sick! I will never have any children for you to use and manipulate!" said Kagome, anger in her voice.

"Kakashi-kun was thinking along the same lines, when I told him," said Orochimaru, smirking again.

'"_Kakashi-kun"? Naruto-kun's sensei?_' thought Kagome.

"But I believe that you might think differently," said Orochimaru, gripping her injured hand around the wrist, "if I were to, perhaps, hunt down all your loved ones?"

Horror slowly crept across Kagome's face.

"One," Orochimaru said, yanking out a shard of glass, "by one," and he yanked out another.

Kagome refused to give any sign that she was in pain. He continued to yank out shards of glass, until every last one was out. Once he had the last piece in his hand, he stuck out his long tongue and licked the blood off of it.

He shuddered, saying, "The power… Delicious…"

Kagome hoped to kami that he wasn't going to lick her bleeding hand, as well. It would probably get infected from that disgusting tongue of his.

Orochimaru let go of her and stood. He licked some of her blood that had gotten onto his hand.

"I will give you some time to think. But it won't really matter if you say 'hai' or 'iie'. I will still have you, no matter what," he said, and chuckled again.

He put a long finger under her chin, forcing her to look up at him. She glared.

"I'll see you again, my little beauty," he said, before disappearing into a swirl of winds.

Kagome collapsed onto her butt, finally able to move again. She waited to see if he would reappear, but there was only silence. She looked around at the blood-splattered floor and shards of glass everywhere.

"Mataku, what a mess," she said, running a hand shakily through her hair.

-o-o-o-

Gaara was shaking with his head lowered a little. He had lost his normal glare, and his teal eyes were pale and staring.

Kankurou, who was watching his younger brother, thought, '_He's in a dangerous mood…_'

'_He must've watched that battle…_' thought Temari.

'_And gotten excited… The beast inside him, that is,_' thought Baki.

All three were eyeing Gaara warily.

Kankurou thought, '_That Neji guy catches my attention,_' his gaze landed on Naruto, who was far away from Neji, '_Let me go do something._'

Kankurou began walking down the balcony towards the stairs, and Temari stepped out of his way.

"Kankurou?" asked Temari questioningly.

"I'm going to go on a little recon mission," said Kankurou, raising his hand in farewell.

"Oi!" he called to Naruto once he got down.

"Hm?" said Naruto, looking to his left at Kankurou.

"What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be with your teammates?" asked Kankurou, walking up the stairs.

"It doesn't matter to you!" said Naruto, looking away.

Kankurou looked past Naruto, and saw Neji standing near the blonde's teammates.

'_Heh heh. I see,_' thought Kankurou, smirking.

"His name's Hyuuga Neji, right?" he asked Naruto, "From the looks of that match, it seems that he hasn't used all of his powers. So what kind of guy is he?"

Naruto growled, spun around, and punched his fist in the air, yelling, "I'll beat him!"

"I didn't ask that," said Kankurou, sweatdropping a little.

'_Actually, you are way below his level,_' thought Kankurou.

"You're an interesting guy. I like you," said the black-capped boy.

"You're not interesting. I don't like you," said Naruto. (1)

'_This brat… I'm going to kill him,_' thought Kankurou as he glared at Naruto.

Naruto heard footsteps and glanced down.

"Oi! Kagome-chan!" shouted Naruto down at her.

Kagome froze on the steps she was walking up.

'_Arigatou, Naruto-kun. Now everyone's going to stare at me,_' she thought, turning towards him.

She waved at him briefly, and turned back around. She hunched her shoulders as much as she could without looking like a chimpanzee and lowered her head so that her bangs hid her face from view. It gave her the illusion of hiding.

"Hn? Wonder what's the matter with her?" said Naruto, lowering his hand.

'_That girl… She punched Hyuuga Neji into the wall and then slapped him… She has guts, that's for sure,_' thought Kankurou.

Kagome walked up to Miroku and Sesshoumaru.

"Oh, Kagome-sama! Where did you go?" asked Miroku.

"To the bathroom," said Kagome simply, standing next to him.

Miroku, however, was very observant. He noticed the bandages wrapped tightly around her right hand.

"What happened to your hand?" he asked.

"I tripped and fell," said Kagome, smiling at him.

'_I highly doubt that. You just don't want to tell me,_' thought Miroku.

Neji opened his eyes at the sound of Kagome's voice from across the way. Stepping forward, he gripped the railing hard and stared at her. She had slapped him! Him! It had already started to bruise into a nice hand-shaped print on his face. He wondered if his uncle, Hinata's father, would do anything about it when he heard that his nephew had been slapped. Though the two of them despised each other – in Neji's mind, at least – Hiashi-oji-san (Uncle Hiashi) would not stand for one of the members of his clan being attacked by a foreign ninja.

'_It's that girl, the one that was trying to help Hinata. You acted hastily, Kurenai. The girl looked like she knew what she was doing,_' thought Asuma.

'_Higurashi Kagome's teammate looked really worried about something. He said she would really kill Hyuuga Neji. Is that her true nature?_' thought Kakashi.

'_I will not let that girl near my students until I hear her story. Until then, she is an enemy that is not to be trusted,_' thought Kurenai, glaring at Kagome.

Hayate coughed to get everyone's attention.

"We will now resume the matches," he said, and everyone watched expectantly.

"Yoshi!" shouted Gai, "It's going to be your turn this time. Now go, Lee!"

He gave a thumbs-up to his student, who was standing as straight as a pole.

"Iie," said Lee, turning away.

"Hm?" said several people.

"I've come this far. I want to be last now," said Lee, sticking his nose up in the air defiantly.

'_Lee-san is sulking?_' thought Sakura.

The TV screen began sorting through names. Just before the screen stopped, Gaara made a hand seal. He disappeared into a swirling ball of sand, which then appeared down on the bottom floor. The sand disappeared, revealing Gaara.

"Hayaku and come down," said Gaara, glaring.

Chouji gave a huge yell, causing several people to gasp.

"Safe!" he said, moving his hands like an umpire that had determined if someone had reached a base with a close call.

"Hora!" said Ino, hitting him on the head.

"Don't confuse us!" said Shikamaru, hitting him as well.

The screen now said 'Gaara vs. Rock Lee'.

Sakura gave an exclamation and turned to Lee, saying, "Lee-san!"

"You fell for it!" said Lee, kicking into the air, "If I say that I want to be last, that doesn't happen! A rock thrown at a pole will not hit, but if you throw it without aiming at the pole, it will hit! That was the law I used!"

"Oh!" said Gai, punching his fist into the air a little, "That's my student!"

"You have to admit, it does make sense," said Kagome.

"To who?" said Miroku, earning him a glare from her.

"I do _not_ want to be last!" said Lee, punching at an invisible enemy in front of him, "I was able to trick them!"

'_Who got tricked?_' thought Sakura, sweatdropping.

Gai put up a finger and said, "Let me give you some nice advice."

"Ossu!" said Lee, saluting his sensei.

Gai leaned in and said, "No one has noticed it yet, but that gourd is suspicious!"

"I see!" said Lee, and began writing it down on a little notepad he had.

"Don't write it down! You have no time to look at it during battle! You fool!" said Gai.

"I see," said Lee, and began writing that down, as well.

'_He didn't notice?_' thought Kakashi.

'_Will Lee-san be okay?_' thought Sakura.

"Yoshi! Go! Yeah!" said Gai, pointing exaggeratingly.

Lee yelled, his eyes aflame, and jumped over the railing onto the floor. He stood and put up a hand defensively.

"I'm very happy that I can fight you so early," he said, and Gaara just looked at him blankly.

"I don't know what kind of moves that bobbed-hair guy uses, but he can't beat Gaara," said Kankurou.

'_He has speed, but his kick wasn't that great,_' thought Temari, smirking down at Lee.

"Iie. He's strong," said Naruto, making Kankurou look at him with surprise.

Something went flying toward Lee, who snatched it out of the air.

"Don't get so hasty," said Lee, and let it what he had caught fall to the ground.

It was the plug to Gaara's gourd. Gaara glared at him menacingly.

'_Lee-san…_' thought Sakura.

'_Be careful, Lee,_' thought Gai.

'_Lee-san better keep on his toes. That Gaara guy means business,_' thought Kagome.

"Now, let the twelfth match begin," said Hayate.

Lee dashed at Gaara and said, while spinning into the air, "Konoha Senpuu!"

Gaara didn't move. The reason was apparent when Lee's leg met a wall of sand. Sand poured and floated into the air, making Lee have to dodge it in order not to get suffocated. Lee flipped backwards and skidded to a stop. He watched as the sand trickled itself back into Gaara's gourd.

"That's…" said Ino.

"Suna?" finished Sakura.

'_What a weird jutsu,_' thought Kakashi.

'_He had suna in his gourd?_' thought Naruto.

'_That's…_' thought Shino, thinking back to when he and his teammates had seen Gaara murder the trio of Amegakure nin.

'_Will a tragedy like that happen again?_' he thought.

'_So, his Bijuu gives him the power over suna? It's very protective of him, considering how hostile it lashed out at Lee-san,_' thought Kagome.

'_Kagome-sama seems to understand this boy more than I do. She said he was a Jinchuuriki, like her, a while back. But all I see is a gaki with a bad attitude,_' thought Miroku.

'_A jutsu that controls suna, ka? Seems very annoying. Let's try it out!_' thought Lee.

He ran at Gaara again, doing his best to land a punch or a kick at the redhead. But the sand always got in his way, and it was always about one-and-a-half feet to half a foot from Gaara. And Gaara didn't even blink.

The sand went for Lee, and he took out a kunai. He sliced through it to prevent it from touching him and aimed another kick at Gaara, never succeeding in hitting him. Lee jumped and rolled to get away from the sand. He jumped up high out of the sand's reach and threw some shuriken at the other's head, but the sand blocked it.

"Lee-san's fast attacks aren't working at all!" breathed Sakura.

"What's going on?" said Naruto.

"Physical attacks have no effect on him," said Kankurou smugly; he was still standing near the blonde.

"Regardless of Gaara's will, the sand will shield and protect him," continued Kankurou, "That's why no one has _ever_ hurt Gaara."

Naruto gaped at him.

'_Kuso, he hasn't moved at all!_' thought Lee.

"Is that it? Let me enjoy this a little more… There isn't enough…blood!" said Gaara, sending his sand towards Lee.

Lee jumped up, but the sand caught him by one of his legs. He yelped as the sand began tossing him about in the air. Then it threw him against a nearby wall, making him cry out in pain. Lee looked up, and barely dodged the sand that came after him. He ran and punched at Gaara, but the sand protected the boy. He kept kicking and punching at Gaara, to no avail.

"Why is Lee-san only using Taijutsu moves? Winning with close combat is going to be tough. He needs to get back and use some Ninjutsu," said Sakura.

"It's not that he isn't using them, just that he can't use them," said Gai.

"Eh?" said Sakura with confusion.

"Lee has no talent in Ninjutsu or Genjutsu," explained Gai.

"No way!" said Sakura.

"When I first met Lee, he had no sense in anything. No talent at all," said Gai.

"What…I can't believe that," said Sakura.

The sand went after Lee, causing him to have to keep flipping backwards towards the giant hand statues. He slipped on some of the sand and fell backwards. Sakura gasped, and Lee pushed himself up. The sand coming after him took the shape of a hand reaching out for him. Lee's eyes widened, and then it appeared that the sand came crashing down on him.

Ino gasped and Shikamaru said, wincing, "Oi, oi."

Gai chuckled, and Sakura gasped when she saw that Lee had jumped up and was currently spinning in a ball in the air. He landed on the highest point on the hand statues, the first index finger. He stared down at Gaara, who glared right back.

"It is true that ninja who cannot use Ninjutsu and Genjutsu are rare. That's why the only thing left for Lee, if he was to survive as a ninja, was Taijutsu. But that's why he can win!" said Gai.

"Eh?" said Sakura.

Gai gave a thumbs-up and yelled, "Lee, take them off!"

Lee raised his hand and said, "Demo, Gai-sensei, I thought that was only permitted when protecting many important people!"

"I don't care! I will allow it!" said Gai.

Lee blinked at him disbelievingly, and then laughed happily. He sat down Indian-style and took off one of the orange leg mufflers on his leg. Sakura gasped.

"Are those…" said Ino.

"Weights?" finished Shikamaru.

'_What an old-fashioned training method…_' thought Kakashi, looking at the grinning Gai.

"I see!" said Naruto.

"How stupid," said Kankurou.

"Ne, Kagome-sama? How much weight to you reckon he's been wearing?" asked Miroku.

"A lot," said Kagome, remembering the weights around her own ankles.

"Yoshi!" said Lee, holding up both set of weights, "I can move easier now!"

Temari 'hmphed' and thought, '_Taking off some weight won't enable you to catch up with Gaara's suna–'_

And then Lee's weights hit the ground in an explosion of dust and concrete. Hayate stumbled back a bit. Several people gasped and gaped.

'_Isn't that too much, Gai?_' thought Kakashi, covering his already-covered mouth with a hand.

"Go, Lee!" said Gai, and Lee yelled excitedly.

Gaara looked like he was pretty fed-up with Lee and his sensei's antics. But his eyes widened when Lee jumped off of the hand statues and landed behind him. With lightning-fast speed, he actually managed to punch past Gaara's sand before it could come up. Gaara looked really surprised. Lee kept dodging in and trying to land blows, since the sand was still slowing him down, but Gaara couldn't keep track of him. One blow landed right past Gaara's ear.

'_Close!_' thought Sakura.

'_He's fast!_' thought Kakashi.

'_Sugee…_' thought Naruto.

Miroku looked at Kagome, who smirking.

'_She wants to fight him now. He has a speed that would make it more challenging for her,_' he thought, sweatdropping.

Lee kept trying to hit Gaara, and Gaara still couldn't keep track of him.

"He can't use any Ninjutsu and Genjutsu," said Gai, "That is why he spent his time on Taijutsu… Worked hard and did everything for them. Although he cannot use any other techniques, he is a Taijutsu specialist who won't lose to anyone."

Lee actually managed to land a blow with his foot on Gaara's head. Gaara gasped, a thin cut having appeared on the right side of his face. Lee skidded backwards towards the entrance, looked up, and smirked. A lot of people gaped.

'_I can't believe it. _Gaara_ got wounded!_' thought Temari.

'_No way!_' thought Kankurou.

'_Uh oh…_' thought Kagome.

"The fuzzy eyebrows is faster than before! He was that strong?" said Naruto.

"The explosion of seishun (youth)!" shouted Gai.

"Ossu!" shouted Lee, his eyes on fire.

He ran towards Gaara, who gestured with a hand to make a wall of sand fly up to protect him. Lee just ran behind him, tried to land a punch, and ran off by the time Gaara had looked behind him. Lee threw a few more blows.

"Over here!" he said to the overwhelmed Gaara.

Gaara turned and Lee punched him in the face. He flew backwards and fell onto his back with a yell.

"Yoshi!" said Gai, clasping his hands together and nodding.

Lee nodded as well and stood.

'_I know that hurt,_' he thought.

"Sugoi! He's fast!" exclaimed Sakura, "The suna guard can't keep up! It was a direct hit!"

"S-sugee," said Shikamaru.

"His attacks are too fast," said Ino.

"I can't keep up with him with my eyes," said Chouji.

Gaara began to stand, his sand going back into his gourd. He was breathing heavily.

"This isn't good," said Kankurou.

"Yeah, it's not good for that dark-eyed guy! He took a heavy hit!" said Naruto cheerfully.

"That's not what I meant," said Kankurou, looking at the blonde boy.

"Eh?"

Sand was crumbling away from Gaara's face. Lee grunted in surprise when he saw the sand start to come off. His eyes widened when an especially large chunk came off and fell to the ground. Gaara looked up with a savage, bloodthirsty expression, and sand could be seen cracking and crumbing off his skin. His teeth were bared, and his breath was strained and wheezing.

"Nan da… His face is crumbling," said Naruto.

'_He had suna covering his entire body?_' thought Kakashi.

"He's totally unharmed?" said Shikamaru with disbelief.

"Who _is_ that guy?" said Sakura, gripping the railing.

Kankurou gritted his teeth and thought, '_Just as I thought, he had suna covering himself. But it's been a while since I've seen that expression on Gaara._'

'_I felt that he had become more unstable during this Chuunin exam,_' thought Temari.

'_Did the other Gaara awaken?_' thought Baki.

Sand had already started to cover Gaara again, and his expression began to return to its normal unemotional glare.

"Oi, what is that? Did he guard the fuzzy eyebrows' attack with that?" asked Naruto shakily.

"Yeah, that the Suna no Yoroi (Armor of Sand)," said Kankurou.

"Yoroi?"

"Normally, the Suna no Tate (Shield of Sand) protects Gaara automatically, and if the Tate is bypassed by chance, the Suna no Yoroi will stop the attack. That is Gaara's absolute defense," explained Kankurou.

"There's no way to beat that!" protested Naruto, "He has not weak point then!"

'_Iie, that not quite true. Actually, the Suna no Yoroi is full of weak points. Since it is not done automatically, it consumes a massive amount of chakra. And its defense is inferior to the Suna no Tate. Since the suna is stuck right to his body, he uses up more strength,_' thought Kankurou.

'_Since Gaara was forced to use that, it means he's being pressured right now. That Lee guy is pretty strong. But the outcome of this match is clear. He cannot defeat Gaara,_' thought Temari, smirking down at her younger brother.

"Is that all you've got?" said Gaara.

'_What incredible guards. Even if I can move fast, my attacks will not have any effect. I have no choice but to apply great damage above the suna. Renge (Lotus Blossom) will do the job,_' thought Lee, his eyes gleaming.

He looked up at his sensei, who nodded and grunted to give his permission. Lee smiled a little. He began to unwrap the bandages around his hands and arms, leaving them trailing down a little.

"Prepare yourself!" he said, looking over his arms that covered the front of his face.

He started running around in fast circles around Gaara.

'_Lee's Renge, which will drop the enemy at high speed, should be able to nullify that thin suna protection,_' thought Gai.

"Hurry up and come," said Gaara emotionlessly.

"As you wish!" yelled Lee, and he kicked Gaara under the chin.

The Sunagakure nin flew up into the air about six feet off the ground, but that was it. He had two new scratches on his face from the hit.

"He won't float," said Sakura.

"I'm not done!" shouted Lee, and kicked Gaara in the stomach, and kept doing it until they were nearly to the ceiling.

"That's an incredible combo," said Kakashi.

Gai clasped his hands together and lowered his head, closing his eyes in the process.

'_Even the normal Renge will cause a lot of strain to the body. Finish it off with this move, Lee!_' prayed Gai.

Lee kicked Gaara again, and it seemed to cause him some pain, because he cried out. Kakashi noticed this. Lee used chakra to cause the loose bandages trailing off his arms to wrap around Gaara, pinning the redhead's arms to his sides. Gaara cried out, and Lee grabbed him. They began torpedoing and spinning towards the floor.

"Take this!" said Lee, and they began spinning so fast that they were causing friction in the air.

"Omote Renge (Front Lotus Blossom!)" shouted Lee, and they crashed into the ground, making a small crater.

Dust flew everywhere. Everyone watched with their mouths open, amazed by such a maneuver. Lee landed beside the dusty crater, panting. Gaara's body lay in the middle of it. It appeared to be covered in cracks, even on the clothing, which was a little suspicious.

Lee appeared to have not noticed, because he said, "That should've hurt."

"Yoshi!" yelled Gai, pumping his fist in the air.

"He did it!" said Naruto.

"No way, this can't be," gasped Kankurou.

"Yatta!" cried Sakura, punching the air, "Lee-san won!"

"Oi, did he die?" said Shikamaru, leaning forward to see.

Hayate walked forward to see if Gaara had lost. Then a piece of Gaara's skin fell _in_. Lee gasped in surprise. Gaara's body was hollow?

More pieces began to fall off, revealing that it hadn't been Gaara who had taken the Omote Renge. It had been a replica of him made out of sand. Naruto gasped as the sand began to return to its original color.

"Nani?" said Lee, hardly believing what he was seeing.

Sakura gasped and said, "That's…a shell made out of suna?"

"When did he switch…? That can't be!" said Gai.

Kakashi turned towards him and said, "When you were closing your eyes and praying."

Gai and Sakura turned towards him.

"Lee briefly paused from the pain. That's when," said Kakashi.

Gai trembled with anger that the Omote Renge had failed.

Kagome was staring at a spot somewhere behind Lee. She could sense Gaara hiding there from the youki ('strange air', demonic energy) he was giving off.

'_Chikushou… Lee-san's woken up his Bijuu…_' thought Kagome, taking a step back.

"Eh? What's wrong, Kagome-sama?" asked Miroku.

'_Gaara,_' thought Baki, looking at the crumbling clay replica.

Lee stood panting, his back to the entrance. Behind him rose a mound of sand, which revealed Gaara underneath. Lee gasped, and sadistic chuckling could be heard from the redhead. Cracks ran along his skin. His eyes actually showed emotion, though it was a very bad kind. His teal eyes were excited and sadistic, and he was smirking as he chuckled.

"That's what's wrong," said Kagome quietly, "His Bijuu is awake."

"That's…!" said Temari.

"No doubt about it…! Those eyes are…! 'It' has awakened. The monster within him," said Kankurou.

Gaara made a hand seal, grinning sadistically. Sand shot past him in long columns into the air, and formed great balls of sand as they rammed into Lee. Lee gave a yell when he was knocked backwards.

Kagome was feeling very odd. She was shaking, and she felt dizzy. The dark brown and lighter brown of the aura of the Bijuu in Gaara mesmerized her.

'**Let me out, koinu.**'

Kagome froze; why was Kawarubi awake?

'**I said, let me out.**'

'_Doushite?_' she asked Kawarubi.

'**He has finally shown himself. Now we can battle him, to test him,**' said Kawarubi.

'_Test him? What are you talking about?_' Kagome asked.

'**We need to test him, to see if he will make a suitable partner for us. A suitable mate,**' explained the Bijuu.

Anger flooded through Kagome.

'_Oh, hell no! I am _not_ about to go down there and make a fool of myself! And for what? A stupid mating test! I'm too young to have children!_' Kagome argued with the Bijuu.

'**You would not have to mate right away. You could wait a couple of years,**' Kawarubi said, trying to persuade Kagome.

Kagome clutched her head, trying to get the damn Bijuu's voice out of her head. What nonsense was it talking about? First that Orochimaru guy, and now the Bijuu inside of her! Why did everyone suddenly want her to have children? She gritted her teeth as the seal on her back began to burn.

"Kagome-sama? Is something the matter?" asked Miroku, peering down at her.

She glanced up at him out of the corner of her eye and he had to keep from gasping. Her eyes were no longer the dark blue they usually were. Instead, they were pale, icy blue with oval pupils, with darker blue squiggly lines surrounding the pupils. Her canines were larger, as well.

"She's trying to get out. She wants to do some stupid test with that Gaara guy," panted Kagome, clutching her bowed head.

Miroku noticed that her fingernails had lengthened into claws.

"Sesshoumaru-sensei!" he said, but Sesshoumaru had already noticed.

"Her Bijuu must be reacting to _his_ Bijuu," said Sesshoumaru quietly.

"I can't allow her to get out. I can't let other people know I'm a Jinchuuriki until I want to," said Kagome, gritting her teeth from the white-hot pain spreading from her seal.

"Miroku," she said, looking at him, "even if you have to restrain me, take me out into the hall, and knock me out, do not let me get out of control."

"H-hai, Kagome-sama," said Miroku.

-o-o-o-

'**Prove to her that you are strong. Prove that you are worthy of being her partner,**' 'Kaa-san' told Gaara, as he slammed Lee against the wall and pounded more sand into him.

'_Hai, Kaa-san,_' Gaara told the Bijuu.

"The bobbed-hair guy can barely move now. Gaara is playing with him," Kankurou said.

Gaara licked his lips hungrily, wanting to make Lee bleed.

"Why…? Why isn't Lee-san dodging them?" asked Sakura.

She turned to Gai and said, "With Lee-san's speed, he should be able to dodge those attacks easily."

"It's not that he's not dodging them, but that he can't dodge them," said Gai.

"What do you mean?" asked Sakura.

"That move he used, the Renge, is a double-edged sword," said Kakashi.

"What do you mean?" asked Sakura again.

"Why do you think the Renge move is considered a Kinjutsu (forbidden technique)?" Kakashi asked her.

"Because…" said Sakura, looking down in thought.

"The Renge is not Ninjutsu or Genjutsu. It's just a combat move that requires the user to move at a high rate of speed. The amount of strain it causes on a body is unimaginable. His body hurts all over right now, so he can't move around. Right? Gai," said Kakashi, trying to get Gai's attention.

"Sou na (oh, no)!" said Sakura, looking back at Lee.

Lee was kneeling with his hands out palm up, as if to try and stop the sand from coming. Another torrent of sand came towards him, and he had to dodge it three times. He finally stopped and kneeled, still panting. Gaara smirked even more, narrowing his eyes. He stood up straight, causing Lee to flinch and cross his arms in front of his face. Gaara made a hand seal.

"He can't use any Ninjutsu or Genjutsu…" said Sakura.

"And his only hope, Taijutsu moves, is inferior even by normal standards," said Ino.

"He can't win," said Chouji.

"At this rate, he's going to…" said Shikamaru.

Lee stood panting, his arms crossed before his face. He looked at his rope's end.

'_Lee,_' thought Gai, thinking of when he had first seen Lee at the Ninja Academy.

The sand hit Lee again, making him cry out.

'_But you practiced those below-average Taijutsu a lot. You frantically practiced Taijutsu, and finally…_' thought Gai, remembering when he was assigned Lee's group the previous year.

Temari chuckled and said, "He should just give up already."

"At this rate, Gaara will just toy with him before he kills him," said Kankurou.

Naruto gasped and looked at Lee, saying, "Fuzzy eyebrows…"

Neji watched Lee and thought, '_Lee…_'

'_But you never gave up,_' thought Gai.

Gaara sent a huge blast of sand at Lee, which sent him flying. Gaara was breathing heavily, smirking like a sadistic maniac at Lee. He looked remarkably like a cat that had caught its prey. Lee got up again in the same posture. Gaara began forming a hand out of his sand, and Lee flinched.

"Heh, so useless," said Gaara.

"The bobbed-hair had bad luck, matching up with Gaara," said Kankurou.

"Iie," said Gai loudly, making him and Naruto look at him, "Lee is not a guy who will surrender to something like this.

"Eh?" they said.

"That's because Lee is…" said Gai, and Lee got pummeled by sand again and again, making him scream.

'_That is because you kept working hard, Lee,_' thought Gai, and smiled at his student.

'_Arigatou, Gai-sensei,_' Lee thought, tears coming to his eyes as more sand began to stir up and circle around Gaara.

"No, Lee-san! If you fight anymore, you'll die!" cried Sakura.

'_Fuzzy eyebrows…_' thought Naruto.

Lee smiled and stood up straighter, determination running through him again. When Gaara's sand came towards him, he dodged it, twice.

"Hm?" said Gaara.

"Nani?" said Kankurou, hardly believing his eyes.

"Lee's movement…" said Neji.

"…Is back to normal!" said Naruto.

'_Sensei is smiling for me. That alone can revive me and make me stronger. Stronger… Far stronger!_' thought Lee, smiling with determination.

"Lee-san is laughing, even when he's cornered," said Sakura, as Lee dodged more attacks from Gaara.

"Iie, we will corner him now," said Gai.

"Eh?"

"The Renge in Konoha blooms twice," Gai told her.

"Blooms twice? Lee-san said that, too," said Sakura.

"Gai, who did you…!" said Kakashi, actually sounding a little angry.

"It's just as you suspect," said Gai.

"So that boy, a Genin, is capable of opening inner gates of the Hachimon (Eight Gates)? And using Ura Renge (Primary Lotus Blossom)?" said Kakashi, glaring at Gai.

'_Ura Renge?_' thought Neji.

"That's correct," said Gai.

"What a disaster," said Kakashi, hunching a little.

Then he stood up straight again and said, "Gai. How many gates is the boy capable of opening?"

"Five," said Gai.

"What is this Hachimon and Ura Renge thing?" asked Sakura.

"The Hachimon Tonko (Eight Gates Manipulation) is a preparation of taking limiters off to use Ura Renge," explained Gai.

"Taking limiters off?" repeated Sakura.

Kakashi turned and lifted up his hitai-ite, revealing his Sharingan eye.

"That's correct," he said.

"In the keirakukei (chakra pathway system), there are gates in each part of the body," explained Kakashi, "From the top, they are Kaimon (Gate of Opening), Kyuumon (Gate of Energy), Seimon (Gate of Life), Shoumon (Gate of Pain), Tomon (Gate of Limit), Keimon (Gate of View), Kyoumon (Gate of Wonder), and Shimon (Gate of Death). Those are the eight places in the body where chakra holes are concentrated at. These are known as the Hachimon. These eight gates constantly control the chakra that flows in your body. But Renge unfastens those controls with force, and grants the user more than ten times more power. That is its power source."

"Omote Renge is a move that opens the first gate, the Kaimon. It unfastens the control of the brain, and enables a person to use his muscles at their limits," said Gai.

"What about Ura Renge?" asked Sakura.

"It opens the second gate, the Kyuumon, and increases one's strength forcefully, and after opening the third gate, the Seimon, the Ura Renge is carried out," explained Gai.

"But, the Omote Renge alone wears out his body. If he tries to do something more straining than that…" said Sakura.

"Yes," said Kakashi, "By opening all eight gates, you are able to gain temporary powers greater than a Hokage. But that person will…die."

Sakura gasped.

Kakashi glared at Gai and said, "I have no intention of prying into what the boy is to you, and I won't tell you to leave personal affairs out of this, but there's such a thing as a limit. I've lost faith in you, Gai!"

Gai glared back with equal force and said, "What do _you_ know about him?"

Kakashi said nothing.

"He has something important that he must protect and prove to everyone, even if it means his own death. That is why I wanted to make him into a man who could hold those words. That is all," said Gai, and Sakura wondered which words he meant.

Lee remembered the condition Gai had given him in order to use Ura Renge.

Lifting up his arms across his face again, he thought, '_That is…_'

Suddenly, the air around him seemed to become pressurized.

"Nani?" said Sakura.

"I don't know what you're trying to do, but you're going to be finished here," said Gaara.

"Sou desu," said Lee, "Either way, the next move will end everything."

'_Neji, Sasuke-kun, and…_' thought Lee, picturing Naruto, '_I cannot be the only one who loses here! Gai-sensei, please acknowledge this… Now is the time…_'

As he thought this, the air became even more pressurized, and his skin began to turn darker. Blue chakra began to outline his body. He stood up straight, and everyone could see that veins stood out on his face. His eyes were bugging out. (2)

'_To abide by and protect my nindou! Third… Seimon, open!_' thought Lee, and his power increased even more.

Kagome managed to gain back a little more control from Kawarubi and gaped at Lee. So much power…! You could actually _see_ his chakra! Then she felt a familiar, raw power pouring out, and her gaze moved over to Kakashi, who was its source. Her heart nearly stopped. His left eye was _red_. Even from this distance, Kagome could tell that his left eye had the Sharingan. No wonder it felt so familiar, considering that she had it…

'_Iie, iie, iie! I do NOT have it! It is utterly impossible for me to have the Sharingan-thingy– Matte, why does Kakashi-san have it? He doesn't look anything like that Sasuke kid… Maybe he stole it from an Uchiha? Sasuke would hate his guts, but he doesn't appear to… Unless he's hiding it really well,_' thought Kagome.

She let out a snort, and clutched the railing with her injured hand when another spasm of pain rocked her, much harder than the last one. She looked down to hide her changed eyes, and forced herself to breathe deeply. She was starting to feel really sick, and Kawarubi wasn't leaving her alone very much. What she really wanted to do was to tell the Bijuu to take a hike, but she couldn't, since Kawarubi was sealed inside of her.

Sakura was watching Lee.

"The color of his body…" she said.

Temari gasped and Naruto said, "…Turned red!"

Rocks were starting to lift up and float at the force from Lee's chakra.

"What's happening to him?" said Kankurou.

"He opened the third gate, the Seimon," said Kakashi, his eyes wide, "He's going to make his move, now."

"Iie, not yet," said Gai.

"Nani?" said Kakashi, turning to the other Jounin.

"Now, for the fourth gate, the Shoumon… Open!" he said.

The chakra around him had started turning green, but now it was a brilliant, emerald color.

"What a guy…" said Kakashi.

'_This isn't something that can be achieved with hard work alone. Is he a genius after all?_' he thought.

Lee took off at a dead run at Gaara, making all the concrete near him crack and come loose. He kicked Gaara under the chin again, causing dust and pressurized air to go flying. Everyone had to cover his or her eyes.

"Itai!" said Shikamaru, as he was hit by debris.

'_He's fast!_' thought Kakashi for the billionth time.

Once the debris stopped coming down, Kankurou looked around.

"Gaara!" he said.

"Where did they go?" said Naruto.

Shikamaru looked up and saw Gaara flying out of the cloud of dust.

"Up there!" he said.

Gaara gritted his teeth from the pain, and more cracks appeared on the Suna no Yoroi all over his body.

"But I can't see Lee anywhere," said Ino.

"Where is he?" said Chouji, looking around.

Gai smirked. As Gaara fell through the air, his sand came back to him.

'_The suna can't keep up at all anymore,_' thought Sakura.

'_Damn it,_' thought Gaara, the sand starting come off his face.

"The Suna no Yoroi again? Then how about _this_?" yelled Lee, and appeared right in front of Gaara.

He kicked Gaara, and then appeared behind him again to give him another one. He kept kicking Gaara back and forth in the air like a soccer ball, so fast that it was hard to keep up with both of them with one's eyes.

'_Nani?_' thought Gaara, '_This Suna no Yoroi is…_'

Lee kicked him around some more.

'…_Being penetrated!_'

"You are tough. Then…" said Lee.

He jumped to the ground, rebounded off the ceiling, and appeared to have difficulty making a fist.

'_His muscles have ripped,_' thought Kakashi.

Neji was watching Lee with his Byakugan activated.

'_That's Lee? When did he become so…?_' he thought.

Lee aimed a punch at Gaara's face, and Gaara grunted in shock, unable to do anything.

"This is the end! Fifth gate, the Tomon… Open!" said Lee.

'_I can't guard myself. Is this really ningen (human) movement?_' thought Gaara, putting his fists in front of himself.

'_Neji, this was a secret move to defeat you. But I will show it to you!_' thought Lee.

Lee darted away from Gaara, making the Suna nin gasp. Then he began punching Gaara in the stomach so fast that his arms were a blur. Gaara was shot towards the ground, but gasped when he was jolted. Lee had a hold of him with the bandage end coming from his left arm.

Temari gritted her teeth and thought, '_The Suna no Tate cannot catch up!_'

'_Most of his yoroi has been peeled off as well… Not good,_' thought Kankurou.

'_S-sugee,_' thought Naruto.

'_Ura Renge…_' thought Gai, '_Simply put, it is a combination of high-speed Taijutsu moves where the enemy cannot even touch the user. The answer to defeating Neji lies within the high-speed combo. There is no way the suna can keep up._'

'_This will be the last move!_' thought Lee, and hauled up Gaara with a yell.

"Ura Renge!" he shouted, punching and kicking Gaara very hard in the stomach.

As Gaara was hit, there was an even bigger explosion, and everyone had to cover their eyes again.

'_It was too fast… I couldn't see what happened…_' thought Shikamaru.

Lee cried out as his arm and leg that he had used to hit Gaara with hurt him very badly. Gaara's gourd cracked and began dissolving into sand as he fell.

'_No…_' thought Gai.

'_The gourd turned into suna?_' thought Kakashi.

There was another explosion, and Lee came flying out of it. The force of it sent him rolling onto the floor, where he lay spread-eagled.

"That should have finished him for good this time!" said Naruto, grinning.

"Gaara!" shouted Kankurou, clutching the railing.

"Lee-san," said Sakura.

As the dust cleared, Shikamaru gasped.

"What is that?" said Ino.

Gaara could be seen lying in a sand structure of some sort that had cushioned his fall. His breathing was labored. He lifted up a hand, doing the shoulder-gripping gesture. Kakashi narrowed his eyes.

'_He guarded himself with the gourd?_' thought Gai.

Kagome felt another jolt of pain. She gave a silent gasp, and gripped the railing even more. The bandages on her hand bloomed scarlet from blood. She had reopened her wounds.

Gaara raised up his hand, staring at Lee, who was picking himself up from the floor. Sand began to form in front of Gaara. Lee saw what was coming and tried to crawl away, but his arms wouldn't hold him up. The sand formed into the shape of a hand.

"That move is…" said Shino.

The sand began to creep toward Lee, who couldn't get out of the way. He lay helpless as it came closer and closer.

'_No way… I used Ura Renge on him, but he's still able to attack?_' thought Lee.

He tried to move away, but the sand caught hold of the arm and leg on his left side. Lee stood up, yelling from the pain, and tried to get away.

"Sabaku Kyuu (Sand Binding Coffin)!" said Gaara, and clenched his fist.

Lee yelled when the sand began to crush his arm and leg. Everyone stared.

'_I can't lose here… I must protect my nindou,_' thought Lee, as he fell backwards.

He fell to the floor and lay there, apparently unconscious. The sand began to creep towards his form again.

'_This isn't good,_' thought Hayate.

"Die!" growled Gaara, and the sand began to fall onto Lee.

In the last second, a dark form darted in towards Lee. Gaara sat up and gritted his teeth, looking disbelieving at what he was seeing. The sand was swiped away, and in its place stood Gai, standing in front of his student's form. Gaara continued to stare. Everything was quiet.

Gaara suddenly overwhelmed by memories of his past, when he had been a child. And his whole world shattered. He cried out, clutching his head and crouching.

He looked at Gai and said, "Why…?"

Gai didn't say anything.

Gaara move forward and said, "Why did you help him…?"

"He's… He's…an important subordinate I love," declared Gai.

Gaara gasped angrily. There was a moment of silence.

"A subordinate you love?" repeated Temari.

'_Gaara would never understand those words,_' thought Baki.

Gaara staggered to his feet and began to walk away, his gourd reforming on his back. Gai gave a grunt of surprise.

"I quit," said Gaara.

"He quit…?" said Sakura.

"The moment Gai went down there, Lee lost," said Kakashi.

"Winner, Gaa–" began Hayate, and then he gasped.

So did everyone else in the room. Gaara stopped and glanced behind him. Gai gritted his teeth and looked back at Lee. Lee was standing up, his arm and leg bleeding. Gai turned all the way around with surprise.

"This can't be…" he said.

Lee was standing in his 'ready-to-fight' pose, shaking with exhaustion. Gaara turned all the way around.

'_He opened five gates, and had his arm and leg crushed… He shouldn't be able to stand up,_' thought Kakashi with astonishment.

Gai ran to his student, put a hand on his shoulder, and said, "Lee, it's okay. It's over. You shouldn't stand up–"

Gai gasped in realization. His face looked like he was about to cry.

"Lee…you…you're…" he began, beginning to cry.

Lee's eyes were glazed over, his eyelids hooded. He wasn't even fully awake.

"Are you trying to prove your nindou even after you have lost consciousness?" Gai asked him, and everyone realized that Lee wasn't awake.

'_Lee-san… I understand your determination all too well,_' thought Kagome, feeling better since Gaara had calmed down.

'_So he was no longer conscious,_' thought Kakashi, putting his hitai-ite back over his Sharingan.

"Lee… You are…" said Gai, and then hugging his student, "…an excellent ninja already."

Hayate looked away from the other two and said, "Winner, Gaara."

Gaara stared at Gai and Lee, not understanding and envying. He narrowed his eyes.

"Lee-san!" said Sakura, jumping up onto the railing.

"Sakura," said Kakashi, causing her to pause, "Even if you go down there, what can you do?"

Sakura looked away.

"It's only going to be tougher on him if you try and cheer him up."

Hayate walked over to Gai, where he was laying Lee on the floor.

Temari 'hmphed' and said, "There's no way you can defeat Gaara."

'_Looks like he had a tougher battle than I expected_,' thought Kankurou.

Naruto made several strangled sounds, and then hurled himself over the railing. He started running towards Lee.

'_Naruto…_' thought Kakashi.

Naruto ran past Gaara, who was on his way towards the stairs. He glared at the redhead, who glared right back.

'_I can't believe the fuzzy eyebrows lost to a guy like him!_' thought Naruto, and kept running past.

Gaara turned to watch him.

"Medical team, please hurry," said Hayate to the medics that were scurrying up.

Naruto stopped beside Lee and looked down at him.

"Fuzzy eyebrows…" he said.

'_Lee-san,_' thought Sakura.

Naruto and Gai watched as the medic team examined Lee. One of them gasped in surprise and looked up at Gai.

"Are you the Jounin in charge of him?" asked the medic.

"H-hai," said Gai.

"This way, please," said the medic, gesturing off to the side.

The medic walked away, and Gai followed soon after. Naruto watched them go and then turned when he heard the other medics talking.

"Place him there carefully. Don't shake the stretcher."

One of them rushed off to get something, so Naruto approached and looked down at Lee. He listened to the medic talking to Gai.

"He is breathing, but the bones in his entire body have suffered comminuted fractures, and his muscles have been torn up. I believe it will take a lot of time for him to recover. That alone would have been fine, but… But the damage to his left arm and leg is severe. Too severe."

Naruto gasped, remembering the sand attacking Lee's arm and leg.

"It's hard to say this," continued the medic, "But his body will no longer allow him to live as a shinobi."

Naruto and Gai stared at the medic in shock. The medic bowed to Gai and walked back to Lee. Lee was lifted up in the stretcher. Naruto stared at Lee, his face shocked.

"That's… That's got to be a lie," said Naruto, starting to tremble from forcing himself not to cry.

Gai walked up to his student and thought, '_Lee… I never wanted to imagine that you would lose. I wanted you to make your nindou come true. Please forgive me… For not being able to stop you…Lee._'

Gai stood with his head bowed as the medics took Lee away.

"That can't be. Tell me it isn't. What's the fuzzy eyebrows supposed to do if he's told that!" Naruto yelled after them.

Kakashi furrowed his brow.

"He said that a dropout was going to defeat a genius through hard work…! Can't something be done?" shouted Naruto, and he was about to go after them.

Kakashi appeared behind him and put a hand over the blonde's mouth, quietly saying, "Calm down, Naruto."

Naruto pushed away his sensei's hand and said, "But… Kakashi-sensei… He wanted to fight Neji and Sasuke so badly…"

"That may have caused this unfortunate incident. To make those wishes come true, he used a self-damaging Kinjutsu to try and win. And that is the result. He tried to abide by the wordless promise that he made with Sasuke, Neji-kun, and you, Naruto. He desperately tried to head for the stage so he could fight you guys," said Kakashi, putting his hand on Naruto's head, "Don't forget that."

Gaara watched Lee go past on the stretcher.

'_Is Lee-san okay?_' thought Sakura.

'_Lee… You didn't notice this until the end… One who can only gain a Pyrrhic victory cannot move his piece forward. The heavens will not allow it,_' thought Neji.

Gai turned and walked away quickly, inhaling sharply to prevent himself from crying. Gaara looked back at him, then closed his eyes and disappeared into swirling sands. Temari gave a grunt of surprise when Gaara appeared beside her again, the sand floating around him.

'_So it ended without anything serious happening,_' thought Baki, looking at Gaara.

Temari walked up to her youngest brother and said, "Welcome back, Gaara."

He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, and then looked down the balcony at Kagome, who was watching Naruto. Kakashi patted Naruto on the shoulder and then looked back at Gai. He walked over to him.

"Gai," he said, and Gai jumped at little with surprise, "I was kind of preachy up there, but after thinking about it… If I were in your position… I would have done the same."

He looked back at Naruto, who looked up at him with surprise. Then he looked back at Gai.

"Gai, you're in the way for the next match. Come on, let's go back up," Kakashi told him.

Gai was silent, and then said, "Okay."

Just then, Miroku noticed that Kagome was bleeding.

"Kagome-sama! Your hand…"

Kagome glanced down at her hand, where the bandages had totally soaked through.

"Healing time," she muttered.

She was still shaky from being in pain and from feeling sick, but she managed to unwrap the used bandages from her hand. Miroku gaped at it.

"What did you do? Punch a mirror or something?" he asked.

"Lucky guess," Kagome told him.

"You did?" he said, a little loudly.

"Shh!" Kagome told him.

"You _punched_ a _mirror_?" Miroku asked her in a low voice.

"Un. I cleaned everything up, though!" said Kagome, looking at the expression on his face.

"I don't care if you left little mints to say you're sorry! You _punched_ a _mirror_!" said Miroku.

"Would you stop going on about the damn mirror?" Kagome hissed at him.

"What do you think they'll do when they figure out one of their mirrors is broken?" asked Miroku.

"I suppose it'll cost less than repairing all of this!" said Kagome, sweeping her hand around at the auditorium floor.

"True," said Miroku.

"Here we go," said Kagome, placing her unharmed hand over the harmed one.

She winced at the stinging sensation of her dried sweat on the exposed flesh, and then summoned up her reiki. There was a blue flash that came from underneath her hand.

'_What was that?_' thought Kakashi and Sakura; Naruto was still looking down and moping.

Kagome felt the tissues reconnect, which was an odd sensation. Then she let what little remained of her reiki die down. She clenched and unclenched her fist.

"See?" said Kagome, "Good as new! Now where's that glove?"

She began rummaging around in her kunai pouch. Her face brightened when she found it.

"Ah! Here it is!" she said cheerfully, waving it in Miroku's face.

Miroku wrinkled his nose in disgust; there was dried blood on the glove.

"You're definitely bipolar. A guy just got put out of a job as a shinobi, and here you are, smiling and dancing around like the midget you are," Miroku mumbled.

"I'M NOT A MIDGET!" shouted Kagome, causing several people to glare at her.

"We will now begin the thirteenth match," said Hayate.

Everyone snapped to attention. The electronic board flashed and went through names, finally saying 'Kazetani Miroku vs. Kumonosu Kanna'.

"It's your turn, Miroku!" said Kagome cheerfully.

"I've got to fight…a kid?" said Miroku, sweatdropping.

"Just remember: If you accidentally suck her up, I'll go and retrieve her. It's as simple as that," said Kagome, patting him on the back.

"Why couldn't I get to fight Kouga? At least I wouldn't feel bad when I beat him up!" said Miroku, tear lines running down his face.

"Would you hurry up already?" Kagome said.

_**Owari**_

-o-o-o-

**Owari: InuYasha In the Hospital**

"So…what are you in here for?" asked InuYasha.

No answer came from the person he was talking to, considering that they were old and were asleep.

"Fine, don't answer. What are you in here for?" asked InuYasha, turning to the person on the other side of him.

"You know what I'm in here for! You watched my match, baka!" said Abumi Zaku.

"Yeah, yeah, don't get your panties in a twist!" said InuYasha.

"Okay, it's time for you to go back to your room! You mustn't strain yourself!" cooed the nurse behind InuYasha.

She pushed his wheelchair out of the room and started going down the hall.

"Man, I wish Miroku or Kagome was here right now," muttered InuYasha.

-o-o-o-

**Author's Notes**

(1) That's so frickin' funny!

(2) Lee reminded me of the Hulk during this part

-o-o-o-

Yay! Finished another one! I put in Gaara and Lee's fight because it's one of my favorites.

A comminuted fracture is when the bone is broken, splintered, or crushed into a number of pieces.

A Pyrrhic victory is a victory with a devastating cost.

You know what really makes me mad sometimes? It's when you can't tell if Kakashi is talking or thinking, because he doesn't move his mouth or his jaw when he's talking most of the time. -_-

Another site that I recommend, if you want to look up song lyrics from anime or just Japanese song lyrics, is this site:

**www . animelyrics . com / (Again, just remove the spaces)**

This is where I get my song lyrics for this story.

**I still want to hear your guesses on who Kagome will get a crush on!**

No cows were harmed in the making of this chapter. If you have watched 'O Brother, Where Art Thou?' you should probably know where I got my disclaimer. ^.^;;

Until next time, ja ne! ^ ^


	12. Chapter XI: Tsukikage

I hope you enjoyed the last chapter!

Disclaimer: The cops caught me and shipped me off to Australia. I'm so miserable that I won't even bother pretending to own Naruto or InuYasha. But I did manage to swipe a nice pickax and a rock hammer ***grins like a maniac***

**Ages:**

Shippou – 8

Ebisu – 28

Touga – 40

"talking"

'_thinking_'

'**Bijuu talking to host**'

**Chapter Eleven: Tsukikage**

-o-o-o-

Donna unmei ga matte irun darou  
Kuyamitakunai yo umareta koto  
Kanashimi no naka ni yuuki ga aru  
Kagayaki tsukamu to shinjiteiru  
Furishikiru aozora no namida  
Itsu no hi ka egao ni kaeru yo

I wonder that fate awaits me  
I don't want to regret having been born  
There is courage within sadness  
I believe that I can find the light  
Tears of the blue sky, still falling  
Someday it will change into a smile

~ 'Aozora no Namida' (Blood+ Opening Theme 1)  
Takahashi Hitomi

-o-o-o-

'_I have to fight _her_?_' thought Miroku, looking down at the petite Kanna.

The little girl, who was actually twelve, blinked dolefully up at him like doe with her large dark eyes.

"Let the thirteenth match begin," said Hayate.

'_Why did I get such an unlucky number?_' whined Miroku to himself.

Kanna whipped out several kunai and threw them at him. Miroku managed to get the shakujo (priest's staff) off of his back and block them with it.

"I've never heard of a shinobi fighting with one of those before," said Sakura.

"Judging from where he's from, he's probably a houshi," guessed Kakashi.

"A houshi?" said Sakura and Naruto.

"Un. A houshi is a wandering Shinto monk. In the old days, they used to wander the countryside and offer exorcisms in order to get paid and earn their keep. Most of them stick to the old shrines, these days," explained Kakashi.

"Aren't houshi supposed to be peace-loving and avoid fights?" asked Sakura.

"Maa, the people from Tsukigakure are different. Once, they had been a community of regular people, as well as a few families of houshi and miko. But apparently, they were attacked by rogue ninja, and had to learn how to fight in order to protect themselves. The result is as you see today. They combined their old traditions with shinobi training," said Kakashi.

"Ano sa, ano sa, what's a miko?" asked Naruto.

"A miko is a Shinto priestess. Their main job was to provide healing for their village with herbs and to protect the villagers from danger, usually using a bow and arrow," Kakashi told him.

"Herbs? Bow and arrow? That sounds like…" said Sakura, looking over at Kagome, and then at the quiver leaning against the wall behind her.

"Un. That girl is probably a miko. She mentioned that she had to memorize all the herbs, and that she had another tutor that taught her about them. The rosary around her teammate's neck is the kind given out by those who practice the Shinto religion."

"Kagome-chan…is a _priestess_?" said Naruto.

Before either Kakashi or Sakura could stop him, he ran down the balcony, down the stairs, up the _other_ set of stairs, and towards Kagome.

"Kagome-chan! Kagome-chan!" said Naruto breathlessly.

Kagome, who had been feeling quite bored and drowsy, looked up in surprise.

"Naruto-kun, nan desu ka? Is something wrong?" she asked with concern.

Naruto leaned over, holding his knees, trying to catch his breath.

"Kakashi-sensei said…" he began, pointing at Kakashi, "Kakashi-sensei said that you were a priestess!"

Kagome's mouth opened slightly in surprise. She looked over at Kakashi, who seemed focused on the battle playing out below him. Kagome narrowed her eyes. _Too focused._ He was just trying very hard to pretend that he didn't know what was going on.

"He did? Well, Kakashi-san is right. I am a priestess, or more precisely, a miko," said Kagome.

Naruto ran off as suddenly as he had come, leaving Kagome in the dust. She just stared after him, hair sprigs sticking out from her skull. She had the sudden feeling that a person gets when they didn't know what had just hit them.

"Huh…?" she said.

"Guess what, Kakashi-sensei? Kagome-chan said that it's true! She really is a priestess, or miko, or whatever!" said Naruto, running back up to his sensei.

"Oh, she did, did she?" said Kakashi, sweatdropping slightly.

He could feel a pair of eyes boring into the back of his head. Slowly, he turned to look behind him. He froze when he saw that Kagome was staring at him. Kagome was leaning against the railing, and her head was resting on top of her arms that were lying on the rail. She was glaring at him unblinkingly, her eyes saying 'go mind your own business'. She lifted up two fingers, pointed them at her eyes, and then pointed them at his, though one of them was covered. A large sweatdrop rolled down Kakashi's forehead.

An explosion took Kagome's attention away from Kakashi and down at her teammate. She turned just in time to see Kanna and Miroku jumping away from a large dust cloud, weapons at the ready.

Miroku decided that this was the right time to use his secret weapon, and removed the glove and beads away from his right hand. His left hand grasped the wrist of his right.

"Kazaana (Wind Tunnel)!" he shouted.

A hole opened up in his palm, and began sucking everything in its path into it. Kanna actually looked pretty freaked out, and dodged away from the Kazaana.

"What kind of jutsu is that?" said Naruto.

"It looks more like a kekkei genkai," said Sakura.

Miroku closed his Kazaana and took out some shuriken. He threw them at Kanna, who deflected them with a kunai. Then she pulled out a small mirror out of her kunai pouch.

"A kagami (mirror)?" said Miroku.

Kagome stared at the mirror. She had heard that the girl had developed some weird jutsu with the mirror, but she had never actually seen it before. It was a mirror the size of a cantaloupe, and was set in a silver frame. The mirror itself seemed to reflect more light than it was supposed to.

Kanna made several one-handed seals.

"Kagami Seiho no Jutsu (Mirror Soul Capture Technique) (1)," said Kanna quietly.

"Nani?" said Kagome.

Miroku was confused. Nothing seemed to be happening. Then the mirror caught his eye. It was very pretty and shiny inside of it. His eyes became locked on it, transfixed by the lights inside of it.

"Don't look into the kagami, Miroku! She's going to take away your soul!" shouted Kagome, leaning up against the railing.

"Take away his soul? That sounds pretty phony," said Sakura, quirking an eyebrow.

Miroku found himself getting weaker. But he couldn't take his eyes away from the mirror. His eyes wouldn't move.

"Nani?" he said, clenching his jaw.

"Come to me," said Kanna quietly.

To his horror, Miroku felt himself taking a step forward. He tried to fight it, but it was no use. He took another and another. He kept taking a step forward, though it was evident that he was fighting it. His legs shook from trying to keep himself from moving forward, but it was no use.

"You pansy, Miroku! Are you going to let her get the best of you? She's four years your junior, for kami's sake! Baka! Baka!" shouted Kagome, leaning over the railing.

"What does she hope to accomplish by calling him names?" said Kakashi.

Miroku gritted his teeth. He hated it when people called him names. Ever since he had gone to the Ninja Academy back home, people had called him names, supposedly because he was weak and always avoided fights. He had been the dobe (dead-last) of his year because of his lack of motivation and feeling inferior. Sesshoumaru had taught him otherwise.

"Baka! Pansy! Scaredy-cat! Crybaby!" continued Kagome.

"Urusai!" said Miroku, forcing his right hand to move in front of him, "Don't call me names! I never run away from a fight, and I don't give up either! It's just that you and InuYasha always hog all the fights!"

Kagome smirked. It was about time his angrier side came out.

"Well, prove it then! And maybe I'll save a shinobi for you to fight next time!" Kagome hollered down at him.

'_Sou ka… She's trying to get him motivated,_' thought Kakashi.

Miroku kept forcing his right hand up, and then began slowly creeping his left towards his right's wrist, where he could hold it steady. Kanna gave a sound of surprise. No one had ever overridden her jutsu before.

"K-kazaana!" shouted Miroku, forcing the hole in his hand to open.

Kanna was so close to him that she had no time to get out of the way. Before she knew it, she was being sucked up into his Kazaana, mirror and all. Once she was in, Miroku closed the hole and slumped with relief.

"Kanna!" shouted Naraku, who had given up glaring at Sesshoumaru a long time ago.

Hayate stared; it had all happened to fast that he had had no time to prevent it.

"Winner, Kazetani Miroku," he said, blinking.

Kagome burst out laughing, banging her hand on the railing. Sesshoumaru rolled his eyes, and everyone else wondered why she was laughing.

"You… You _actually_ sucked her up! I didn't think you would do it!" Kagome gasped.

"You little gaki! He just killed my student and imouto (little sister)!" said Naraku, starting towards her with a murderous look on his face.

Kagome laughed again and said, "She's not _dead_! Probably knocked out, but otherwise unharmed."

"Where is she, then?" said Naraku, still on a warpath.

"Be back in a jiffy," said Kagome, holding up a finger.

She made a one-handed seal, and then she simply vanished, fading away like an apparition. Exclamations went up around the auditorium.

"Where did she go?" said Sakura.

"No way!" said Naruto.

'_What kind of jutsu did she just use?_' thought Kakashi.

"N-nani!" said Ino.

"Can we go get barbeque yet?" asked Chouji.

A second later, Kagome reappeared behind Miroku. More exclamations went up. She was kneeling, and her hair was tousled. On her lap lay Kanna, and in one of her hands was Kanna's mirror. She looked up, and her eyes had darker bags under them.

"Miroku, do you know how long I was in there?" she asked quietly.

'_In where? "How long"?_' thought several people.

"Should I know?" asked Miroku, backing away slightly.

"I was in there for half an hour!" said Kagome angrily.

"What did she just say? She was gone for only a second!" said Temari, gripping the railing and leaning down.

"Sou? That was an awfully long time to be in that place. Matte, I thought you could tell where someone was and get there instantaneously," commented Miroku.

"In there, I can only tell the general area where they're at! A ten-mile square area! Besides, I have to have seen where the person was before! It constantly moves around in there!" said Kagome, waving her arms in the air.

"You aren't very good at tracking," muttered Miroku.

"How about you suck Kanna back up, and then I send you there myself! Good luck finding her in that place!" said Kagome, a tick mark appearing on her forehead.

"Like hell you'll send her back to wherever she was!" said Naraku, appearing beside Kagome and snatching Kanna away from her.

"You forgot her kagami!" Kagome called to him, but he ignored her.

"So, what's it like in there? I've never asked you," asked Miroku.

"Dark. Kuroi (black). Everything is dark. You can't even tell what it up and what is down. And you can walk anywhere. Up, down, sideways, even if you could tell which was which. That's why it's called the _void_," said Kagome, rolling her eyes.

"The void?" said Sakura.

"Oi, look at these nice kunai and shuriken I collected on the way," said Kagome, holding them up.

"You were treasure-hunting?" said Miroku, raising an eyebrow.

"Miroku. Kagome. Get back up here. You're in the way," called Sesshoumaru.

Kagome and Miroku began walking back up to their sensei, talking all the while.

"I was _not_ treasure-hunting! I said I collected them along the way, didn't I?"

"Maybe you took so long because you were treasure-hunting," said Miroku, wanting to irritate her.

It worked.

"Look, they were floating in the air, so I went and–"

"Kagome. Stop bickering," said Sesshoumaru.

Kagome shut her mouth, but went over to Naraku and Kanna. Naraku had managed to get Kanna to wake up. She looked a bit dazed, which was normal if you had just gone through Miroku's Kazaana.

"What do you want?" asked Naraku rudely.

'_So mature. He's Sesshoumaru-nii's age and acts like a five year-old,_' thought Kagome, looking blankly at him.

"Here's your kagami," said Kagome, holding out the mirror to Kanna.

Kanna blinked and slowly took it from her. Kagome didn't really expect a reply, partly because members of the two opposing clans didn't talk to each other much, unless it was to insult each other, and partly because Kanna didn't say much in the first place.

"A-arigatou," said Kanna's quiet voice behind Kagome.

Kagome stopped in surprise. She looked back behind her at Kanna, who was being glared at by her older brother.

"Douitashimashite (you're welcome)," said Kagome, smiling kindly.

She turned and walked back to her companions. Miroku gave her a friendly smile and waved at her, the same kind he had given Sesshoumaru when they had first arrived at the tower.

"Don't try to suck up. I'm still going to beat you up later," said Kagome.

"It's not my fault! I can't control where people will end up in there! I say it's your fault, because you were the one looking for her!" said Miroku.

"Why, I ought to–!"

At that precise moment, Sesshoumaru, who was tired of Kagome constantly picking fights with various people for various reasons, bonked them both on the head with a fist. They stopped fighting.

"Itai!" they said.

"I was starting to wonder when he'd do that," muttered Kakashi from the across the way.

Kagome held the steaming goose egg that had popped up on her head. Miroku did the same for his. She gave him a look that said 'this isn't over'. Miroku smiled sheepishly.

"It is time for the fourteenth match," said Hayate.

'_There are three people left. I wonder how they'll do the battle with the last person?_' said Kagome, her goose egg shrinking.

The screen went through names and stopped at 'Akimichi Chouji vs. Kinuta Dosu'.

Dosu and Chouji went down.

Chuckling to himself, Dosu thought, '_So it's finally my turn._'

'_I'm going to win and eat barbeque,_' thought Chouji, remembering Asuma's promise to treat him to barbeque if he won.

'_I need to advance to the main matches and fight Sasuke-kun. Otherwise, Orochimaru-sama, I won't be able to live to your expectations. I already have an idea of what's going on. You made contact with Sasuke-kun before we met him, and gave him a juin instead of killing him. We were test subjects to see Sasuke-kun's abilities during the exam. He does not want Sasuke-kun's life, but Sasuke-kun himself. I have been taken lightly,_' thought Dosu.

"Now, fourteenth match, begin," said Hayate.

"Do your best!" called Shikamaru.

"Debu (fatty)!" called Ino, trying to get Chouji wound up.

Chouji's ear twitched and veins popped out on his face.

"Kuso, they're going to get it! I'm going to finish this match quickly, then beat them into a pulp!" said Chouji, glaring at his teammates.

"Then I'll finish this match without fooling around, Odebu-san (Mr. Fatty)," said Dosu, smiling under his mask of bandages.

Chouji turned, fire starting in his eyes, and said, "Are you talking to me, you bandaged kappa (water imp)?"

'_I know about your weakness from the last battle we had. He releases sonic waves from those holes on his arm, so…_' thought Chouji.

"Ninpou: Baika no Jutsu (Ninja Art: Multi-Size Technique)!" said Chouji, making a hand seal.

Instantly, his body puffed up and became round as a ball. (2) Kagome had to slap her hand over Miroku's mouth and give him a warning look when he began to snort with laughter.

"And Konoha Ryuu (Konoha Style) Taijutsu…!" said Chouji.

He began popping his arms and legs into his body, chakra spilling out.

Then he popped his head in, saying, "I just have to protect my ears!"

Miroku had to slap _his_ hand over Kagome's mouth when she gave a strangled giggle.

"Nikudan Sensha (Human Bullet Tank)!" shouted Chouji, hopping into the air and rolling back onto the floor.

"Hurray for big-boned people!" said Chouji, as he went for Dosu, which wasn't very fast.

"Yoshi!" said Ino, pumping her fist in the air, "Crush him, Chouji!"

'_That guy attacks with oto, so he doesn't have to make direct contact. But that's only if the ears are exposed. He has his head sunk into his body, earplugs in place, and is rotating. How will you attack that meatball with oto?_' thought Shikamaru.

As he thought this Dosu, simply hopped out of the way of the slowly charging ball that was Chouji. Chouji turned the ball slowly and went for Dosu again, making him hop backwards. Dosu stood next to the wall, then jumped out of the way, making Chouji run right into it. Chouji tried to pry himself loose, but it wasn't working.

Dosu chuckled and said, "You're not able to move like that, now. I will take advantage of that!"

Dosu slammed his arm with the holes into Chouji's blubbery body.

"I have ear plugs, so it's no use!" said Chouji.

"Iie, it's over for you," said Dosu, and flicked his arm to make vibrations.

Chouji yelled as his body vibrated. There was an explosion of dust, and Chouji's team gasped. When the dust cleared, Chouji lay on the ground in his original form, his eyes little confused swirls.

"More than seventy percent of the human body is made of water, and water transmits oto. In other words, your whole body is like an ear," Dosu told him.

"Winner, Dosu Kinuta," said Hayate.

"That's got to be the shortest match ever," said Kagome very quietly, her voice strangled from trying not to laugh.

Miroku nodded, not trusting himself to speak without laughing. Dosu began walking away towards the stairs.

'_Orochimaru-sama, iie, Orochimaru, I will show you that I am not just a test subject,_' he thought, as the medics rushed in to see to Chouji.

"Are you okay?" asked one of the medics.

"I want to eat meat…" muttered Chouji.

Shikamaru leaned on the railing with his chin in his hand and said, "The opponent went easy on him."

"He lost, but I guess I can take him to eat barbeque," said Asuma.

Once Chouji was carried off, Hayate coughed.

"And the fifteenth and final match. The last contestant, please come down," said Hayate.

"Finally," muttered Kouga, jumping over the railing like most of the others from his village.

Kouga walked out to the floor.

"For this match, if you want to volunteer to fight the last contestant, please do so now," said Hayate.

People muttered among themselves. Some looked at Hayate like he was crazy.

Finally, Kagome shot her hand up into the air and said, "I will!"

"Kagome-sama?" said Miroku, looking at her with surprise.

"I've had to most amount of time to rest. Besides, it'll only take five minutes. Remember to start counting down," Kagome told him.

"All right, please come down," said Hayate.

Kagome bent down and moved her mufflers down. She took off the weights around her ankles and held them up.

"I need these off in order to do it," she told Miroku.

"Nani? She's wearing weights, too?" said Gai, leaning forward for a closer look.

Kagome leaned against the railing and dropped the weights to floor. No one was expecting an even bigger explosion of dust than Lee's, which it was. Several people gaped. Kagome took off Sou'unga and leaned it against the wall near her other things.

"It feels weird without those," she muttered, hurling herself over the railing.

"How much weight was she carrying around?" said Kakashi.

Kagome walked over to Kouga, noticeably quick-footed.

"Kagome-chan! I can't fight you!" said Kouga, looking scared.

"Don't worry," said Kagome, "You won't be doing any fighting. There won't be enough time for you even try."

"Huh?" said Kouga.

Kagome held out a hand, fingers splayed out, towards Miroku.

"Five minutes, Miroku!" she told him loudly.

'_Five minutes…?_' thought Sakura.

"Let the final match begin!" said Hayate.

Before Kouga could even move, a kick hit him in the side. He went flying, and was kicked again and again. Gai and Kakashi watched with astonishment. Kagome was moving as fast as Lee had been when he used the Ura Renge! There was no way she could have been moving that fast without using some sort of move.

Kakashi lifted up his hitai-ite to see if she was using any chakra. His Sharingan encountered nothing. The girl was moving with brute strength.

"How is she doing that?" he said, almost to himself.

Kouga was given a kick that sent him up towards the ceiling. Then he was punched back down, almost just like Lee's move. There was another explosion of dust and when it cleared, Kouga lay crumpled in a small crater, unmoving. When he didn't move, Hayate moved forward to check if he was unconscious. He was.

"Winner, Higurashi Kagome," he said.

"Time!" shouted Kagome, turning to Miroku.

"Four minutes and forty-two seconds, Kagome-sama," said Miroku weakly; she had just beaten up the guy that had a crush on her, and didn't even feel bad about it.

"Sugoi, Kagome-chan! That was so fast!" said Naruto loudly.

Kagome smiled at him and went over to retrieve her weights, which were lying in three-foot-deep holes in the ground. She picked them up and jumped back up to her teammates, sitting down to put them back on. The medic team came in and put Kouga on a stretcher, then carried him out.

Hayate coughed and thought, '_It has finally ended._'

'_The main matches will finally begin,_' thought the Hokage, who was sitting and watching in some unknown place.

Hayate walked up to the higher level of ground in front of the hand statues.

"That concludes the Third Exam's preliminary matches," he said, raising a hand.

-o-o-o-

Back at the Ninja Academy, Iruka was teaching. But at the moment, he was distracted. He was worried about Naruto.

Iruka turned and looked out the window.

'_I wonder how Naruto is doing…_' he thought.

Konohamaru looked up and noticed his teacher wasn't paying attention.

He smiled and turned to Udon, who was sitting next to him, and whispered, "Let's go outside right now. Iruka-sensei seems to be distracted lately, so now's our chance."

Unfortunately, Iruka had good hearing.

"Hora! Konohamaru!" he yelled, "Are you trying to sneak out of class again?"

"I was going to go to the bathroom!" lied Konohamaru.

"Don't lie!" said Iruka.

-o-o-o-

Back at the tower in the middle of the forest, all the Genin that had passed the preliminary matches – except for the ones that had been injured – were lined up in front of the raised level of ground. Ibiki, Hayate, and Anko stood in front of them, and the Hokage stood up on the higher level.

"To those who have made it to the main matches of the Chuunin exam's Third Exam, all but two are here, so congratulations," said Hayate.

Sakura, who was still up on the balcony with Kakashi, turned to him and said, "Sensei."

"Un?" said Kakashi.

"May I ask something?" asked Sakura.

"About Sasuke? Well… Wari, but I'm not sure myself. But don't worry about it," he told her.

'_The rest is up to Sasuke, now,_' he thought.

"Sakura," he said, "I'm going to leave, so tell me the details of the main matches later."

He smiled, put up a hand, and promptly vanished in a poof of smoke.

"Un," she said.

'_Including Uchiha Sasuke, who isn't here at the moment, there are five Konoha, three Suna, one Oto, and four Tsuki,_' thought the Hokage.

Gripping the brim of his kasa and smiling, he said, "I will now begin the explanation of the main matches."

'_Finally,_' thought Naruto.

-o-o-o-

Somewhere in the vicinity of Konoha, Yakushi Kabuto was kneeling beside a silhouetted figure.

"The preliminary matches have concluded, and now they are about to begin the main matches," Kabuto reported.

"This place has become so peaceful, iie… This country has become soft, too used to peace. The rest of the countries are busy increasing their military influence," said the other figure, who was Orochimaru.

Kabuto stood and said, "Are you able to kill him now?"

Orochimaru smirked at Kabuto and looked away, saying, "Yes. Although I'm not sure if it's going to be fun killing that old geezer."

Kabuto took a step forward and said, "Sou deshou (really)?"

Orochimaru looked at him sharply.

"To me," continued Kabuto, "it seems like you are hesitating. The individual hidden villages are about to clash violently, and it will be a long conflict. Otogakure will be one of them. You are trying to be the trigger of it."

Orochimaru no longer smirked.

Kabuto pushed his glasses further up the bridge of his nose, and said, "And he is the bullet, right? Uchiha Sasuke-kun, was it?"

Orochimaru chuckled and said, "Your speculation is so good, it creeps me out."

"That's not true. I didn't know about Dosu, Zaku, and Kin. When I was gathering information about Sasuke-kun, I had to purposely get hit to find out about their abilities. You think too highly of me. It seems I have not gained your full trust yet," said Kabuto.

"Was there a need to tell you, my right arm, about those mere children? That is proof that I trust you," said Orochimaru, making Kabuto look at him slowly with no humor.

"That is why, I'm going to ask you to take care of Sasuke-kun. The juin I gave him was sealed by Kakashi. It doesn't matter much, but before the darkness within his heart disappears, I want you to kidnap him at once," said Orochimaru.

Kabuto turned to him and said, "You seem to be in a hurry. That's unusual of you."

"There's someone that caught my attention," said Orochimaru.

"Uzumaki Naruto?" said Kabuto.

Orochimaru narrowed his eyes and thought, '_He is indeed sharp._'

"Sasuke-kun is an avatar of vengeance who has survived to kill his brother, Itachi. He cannot die until he completes his goal. But when he fought, he knew that he couldn't win, yet he engaged me without fear of death. I thought he was the type who was more careful with his life. According to your information, it seems that contact with that Kyuubi kid has changed Sasuke-kun's heart and goal. He is very influential to Sasuke-kun. So we must separate those two as soon as possible. I need to dye him to _my_ color," said Orochimaru, licking his lips.

Kabuto watched Orochimaru out of the corner of his eye, and then began walking forward.

"Excuse me, then…" he said.

"Kabuto, if you…" began Orochimaru, making Kabuto stop, "If you want to stop me…"

Kabuto looked back at Orochimaru out of the corner of his eye.

"…You have to kill Sasuke-kun, now."

The grey-haired boy looked back at him with shock.

"You cannot kill me. Although you are strong, you're only as strong as Kakashi," finished Orochimaru.

A gust of wind blew through the silence, and Kabuto continued to stare at Orochimaru with shock.

Orochimaru gave a short laugh and said, "I'm kidding. You can go now. I trust you."

Kabuto was smiling back at him nervously, a sweatdrop on the side of his face. He jumped up and disappeared in a blur.

Orochimaru chuckled to himself and thought, '_That face on him… I wonder what he was thinking. But I don't trust him quite enough to tell him about _her_._'

"Your main match fights will be shown in front of everyone," explained the Hokage, "We wish for all of you to show off your abilities as your country's representative power. Therefore, the main matches will begin in one month."

"We're not going to do it right here, right now?" asked Naruto, sounding surprised.

"The one month is a time to conduct appropriate preparations," said the Hokage.

"What do you mean?" asked Neji.

"In other words," said the Sandaime, "we are going to announce to the daimyou and head ninja of the individual countries that the preliminary matches have ended. And time is needed to gather those people for the main matches. This is also preparation time for you candidates."

'_This geezer always says stuff in an indirect way…_' thought Kankurou.

"I still don't understand. Explain," he said.

"This time is used so you can know your enemy and yourself better," said the Hokage, saying it as if it had already been obvious, "It is a time to analyze the information you have gathered during the preliminary matches. The battles we had were just like real combat situations. It has been done where both parties knew nothing of each other."

'_It is true that I didn't expect him to use suna as a weapon,_' thought Shikamaru, looking at Gaara.

"But the main matches will not be like that. There are those who have revealed everything to their rivals. To make things fair, work hard and improve yourselves on your own in the next month."

Naruto looked down the row at Gaara and Neji, and then thought of Sasuke.

'_I can't win in my current state. I can't just fool around this next month. I need to get serious,_' thought Naruto.

-o-o-o-

In the Konoha Hospital, a heart monitor was beeping steadily. ANBU guards lay scattered about the room that the heart monitor was in, and Kabuto was walking away from them further into the room.

He walked up to the bed in the middle of the room, which Sasuke lay in.

He sighed and said, "Being too excellent isn't as good as it seems. We have stood out too much. Perhaps it was unfortunate that Orochimaru-sama cast his eyes on us both."

Kabuto stared down at Sasuke, who was breathing softly into his oxygen mask.

'_He is young, yet he has a devil in his heart? He took advantage of that and, eventually, that Ninjutsu will be used to… And he will become…_'

-o-o-o-

Orochimaru was still in the same general area as he had been before.

"Kabuto…" he said, "He might really kill Sasuke-kun."

-o-o-o-

Kabuto took out a scalpel used by surgeons. He moved it closer and closer towards Sasuke's oxygen mask, and narrowed his eyes as he spotted something behind him reflected in the metal of the surgical knife. He moved to attack, but suddenly, something grabbed away the scalpel.

"Very nice, Kakashi-san. You stopped an attack that was in your blind spot. But next time, you should have at least ten people," said Kabuto.

Kakashi, who was standing about two meters away from Kabuto, thought, '_The ANBU members I stationed here were killed so easily?_'

He looked at Kabuto and said, "You're not a normal Genin, are you? You're quite a guy; you noticed my presence, and took out that weapon immediately."

He began walking towards Kabuto.

"It wasn't that great," said Kabuto.

"What do you want with Sasuke? I may have to capture and interrogate you, depending on your answer," said Kakashi.

"Can someone as lowly as you be capable of doing that?" asked Kabuto, turning and facing Kakashi.

"Do you want to try with that lowly person?" asked Kakashi.

They stared at each other.

"You were the son of Konoha's medical squad leader, correct? Your name is Yakushi Kabuto, isn't it? Are you connected with Orochimaru?" asked Kakashi, his expression serious.

"If you capture me right now, you might be able to prove the connection between me and Orochimaru," said Kabuto.

"Just answer my question," ordered Kakashi.

"And if I say 'iie'?"

"I'm the one asking the questions here," Kakashi told him, "Just answer it."

"If you let me swim around, you'll find out eventually. So can you let me go this time?" asked Kabuto, looking apologetic.

"You sure are a selfish gaki. Don't screw around with adults, you little bastard," said Kakashi, holding up a kunai defensively.

"Please don't act so bossy. I have the upper hand right now," said Kabuto, taking out a hooked medical kunai and placing it near Sasuke's neck.

Kakashi watched with a little surprise, but said nothing. A bead of sweat rolled down Kabuto's face. When nobody said anything, Kabuto tightened his grip on the kunai, causing Kakashi to attack. Kabuto dodged a blow, and then plunged the kunai at Kakashi's side. Kakashi knocked the kunai out of Kabuto's hand, sending it spinning. The kunai skidded on the ground and lay still.

Straddling Kabuto's back (3), Kakashi held one of the boy's arms and had the other plunging his fingers into the hollow on at the base of the back of the neck, knocking Kabuto out cold. Suddenly, one of the dead ANBU got up and started running out the door.

'_I see,_' thought Kakashi.

The ANBU stopped short when he saw that another Kakashi was waiting for him out in the hall.

"A Kage Bunshin?" said the ANBU.

Kakashi stood and walked away from Kabuto's still body, towards the ANBU. The other Kakashi came in after the ANBU, blocking his exit. The ANBU was cornered as Kakashi and his Kage Bunshin came closer. Suddenly, one of the other dead ANBU jumped up, threw four shuriken at the window, and jumped through it. Kakashi went to the window and looked down at the falling ANBU, who removed his mask, hair and all. It was Yakushi Kabuto, smirking at him. Kakashi gave a grunt of surprise, knowing he had been duped.

"Kuso, he got away," he said.

Suddenly, the first ANBU that had jumped up collapsed and fell onto his face, dead once more. Kakashi's Kage Bunshin disappeared.

"What a guy," muttered Kakashi, walking over to the body that appeared to be Kabuto's.

He felt the body's pulse and thought, '_Just as I thought. This is the Shikon no Jutsu (Dead Soul Technique), which gets a corpse's heart to beat temporarily to control it. He even manipulated the face. And he erased his body scent, muted his heartbeat, pretended to be an ANBU member he killed, and still had an escape route ready. No wonder, he was adopted by a medical squad leader. If a guy like this is under Orochimaru's command, I can't win in my current state._' (4)

He narrowed his eyes.

-o-o-o-

"So," said the Sandaime, "I want to let you guys go, but there is something important we must do before the main matches."

"What is it?" complained Naruto, "I have to hurry and train!"

"Don't get so hasty. Take a piece of paper from the box that Anko is holding," the Hokage soothed.

"I'll walk, so take it in turns," said Anko, and walked up to Dosu, saying, "Take just one."

Naruto took his slip and opened it.

"Huh?" he said; the piece of paper had the number 'one' on it.

"Yoshi, everyone got one?" asked Ibiki, "Now, tell me what number you got, starting from the left."

"Juu (ten)," said Dosu.

"Ichi (one)," said Naruto.

"Kyuu (nine)," said Temari.

"Nana (seven)," said Kankurou.

"San (three)," said Gaara.

"Juuichi (eleven)," said Shikamaru.

"Ni (two)," said Neji.

"Hachi (eight)," said Shino.

"Juusan (thirteen)," said Kagome.

"Go (five)," said Miroku.

"Juuni (twelve)," said Kikyou.

"Anko, pull for Uchiha Sasuke and Taishou InuYasha," said Ibiki.

"For Uchiha Sasuke," said Anko, digging around in the box and pulling out a slip of paper, "Yon (four). And for Taishou InuYasha, roku (six)."

"We will now tell you the match ups for the tournament," announced the Hokage.

"Eh?" said Naruto.

"That's what we drew for?" exclaimed Shikamaru.

"Ibiki, show the match ups," said the Hokage.

"Hai," said Ibiki, flipping around the board he was holding so that everyone could see.

Some people gasped, others stared without a reaction.

'_I'm almost at the far edge,_' thought Dosu.

'_Nan da? It's just a tournament?_' thought Temari.

'_I have to fight her? How troublesome. I even have an extra match,_' thought Shikamaru, looking very dull.

'_I'm glad that I'm not in the same block as Gaara. Uchiha Sasuke…_' thought Kankurou.

'_Why do I have to fight InuYasha of all people? He'll hate me for life if I win, and he'll gloat for the rest of his life if he wins,_' thought Miroku.

'_I have to fight _him_? He looks like such a couch potato,_' thought Kikyou.

'_If you beat Nara Shikamaru, you're going down, Hanagami Kikyou_ _(5). You're going to pay for all the heartache you've put InuYasha-nii through,_' thought Kagome.

'_Perfect,_' thought Neji.

'_Hyuuga Neji. I get him right off the bat? I'm looking forward to it,_' thought Naruto, narrowing his eyes at Neji.

From above, Sakura thought, '_Sasuke-kun is matched up against that person?_' (6)

"I have a question," said Shikamaru, raising his hand.

"Un?" said the Hokage.

"If it's a tournament, that means there's only one winner, right? Does that mean that only one person can become a Chuunin?"

"Iie," said the Hokage, "that's not how it is. These main matches will have judges, including me, the Kazekage ('wind shadow'), as well as the daimyou and head shinobi from other countries, who will be potential clients. These judges will grade you by watching you in the tournament. And those who are qualified to be a Chuunin, even if they lose in the first round, will become a Chuunin."

"So there's a possibility that everyone here can become a Chuunin?" asked Temari.

"Yes," said the Hokage a little hesitantly, "but it also means that it's possible for no one to become a Chuunin. Winning the matches in the tournament means that you are able to show off your skills more. Understand, Shikamaru-kun?"

'_Taku, how troublesome,_' thought Shikamaru, not even looking at the Hokage.

"That is all. We are adjourned until next month," finished the Hokage.

'_So my second match is going to be the Suna guy with no brows or Sasuke. He was strong enough to blow away the fuzzy brows. I'll have to ask Kakashi-sensei to…_' thought Naruto.

-o-o-o-

Later that afternoon, Kagome was on her way to the Konoha Hospital. She had asked for directions from a civilian, who had kindly pointed out the way. As she had made her way to the hospital, she had stopped and picked some dandelions with long stems to give to InuYasha; he liked dandelions.

"Oi! Kagome-chan!" shouted a familiar voice behind her.

Kagome turned and saw Naruto walking up to her, waving.

"Naruto-kun?" said Kagome.

"Are you going to the hospital, too? I'll walk with you there!" said Naruto.

"Hai, I am. Arigatou!" Kagome told him, smiling.

As they walked, Naruto peered at the dandelions Kagome was carrying.

"Why are you carrying those?" he asked.

"They're for InuYasha. He likes tanpopo (dandelions), and they're free. You can pick them anywhere," said Kagome, arranging the yellow flowers neatly in her hands.

Naruto stopped and said, "Here's the hospital!"

Kagome looked up at the huge building in front of her. She gaped; the hospital back in Tsukigakure wasn't as large as this! This building was three stories high!

"C'mon, Kagome-chan!" Naruto called to her, who had already gone on ahead.

"Coming!" Kagome said, running after him.

They entered the lobby of the hospital, the air-conditioner cooling them down. Naruto sighed contentedly and then strode up to the receptionist's desk purposely. He leaned against it and squinted at the receptionist ladies, who looked at him expectantly.

"Where's Sasuke's room?" he demanded.

'_You should be more polite, Naruto-kun,_' thought Kagome, walking up to stand beside him.

"Sasuke-sama is currently not taking any visitors," said one of the receptionists firmly; the other looked at Kagome curiously.

'_Sasuke-_sama_?_' thought Kagome, not noticing the woman's gaze.

"What?" screamed Naruto, "Ne? Nan de (why)?"

"Naruto-kun, you should quiet down," Kagome told him, but he wasn't paying attention.

"I cannot say…" said the receptionist.

"Ne, nee-chan (lady), nan de?" asked Naruto, a little quieter.

"Naruto, be quiet inside the hospital," came Kakashi's voice.

"Huh? Kakashi-sensei!" said Naruto, running over to his sensei.

"Can we help you, dear?" the receptionist asked Kagome; the other was still staring.

"Hai, I was wondering if I could visit Taishou InuYasha?" Kagome asked timidly, wondering if it wouldn't be allowed like in Sasuke's case.

"Hai. He's in room thirty-eight on the first floor. Are those flowers for him?" asked the receptionist.

"Un," said Kagome, nodding.

"It was nice of you to pick flowers for him. People usually buy them and bring them," said the receptionist, smiling.

"Are you…are you a relative of Sasuke-sama?" asked the other receptionist, looking confused and awed.

"Iie! Does it _look_ like I'm related to him?" yelled Kagome, steam coming out of her ears.

The women slowly looked her up and down, not saying anything. The expressions on their faces said it all. Kagome growled and spun on her heel. She stopped when she saw Naruto and Kakashi looking at her.

"What? Do you think I look like him, too?" she said with ire.

"Kagome-nee-chan!" said a voice, and a red-orange blur mixed with green flew to her legs and clung there.

"Eh?" said Kagome, looking down.

Her eyes widened, her mouth gaped, and she stuttered.

"S-shippou-chan!" she exclaimed.

'Shippou-chan' had reddish-brown hair, almost dark auburn. He had large, emerald-green eyes that sparkled mischievously, and a happy smile. His hair was tied up in a ponytail with a green ribbon, and he wore a green, short-sleeved keiko-gi along with a pair of darker green sashinuki hakama. On the back of his keiko-gi was a silver crescent moon (7). On his feet were black ninja sandals.

"Hai!" said 'Shippou-chan', smiling up at her.

"What are you doing here? How did you get here? Don't tell me…" said Kagome, looking shocked.

"…He invited himself, didn't he?" she said in an 'I don't believe it' tone, sweatdropping.

"Who invited himself?" said Naruto, scratching his head.

"Tou-san did! Who're you?" asked Shippou, looking at Naruto curiously.

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto! Dattebayo!" said Naruto, jerking his thumb towards himself.

"Quiet down, Naruto," said Kakashi, who wished that he could tell Naruto what he had to tell him.

"Is he one of your friends, aneki (big sister)?" Shippou asked Kagome, his large green eyes wide.

"Aneki?" shouted Naruto.

"Naruto-kun, would you please be quieter? There are sick people here," said Kagome in a high whisper.

"Demo…_he's_ your otouto (little brother)?" said Naruto, squinting back and forth from Kagome to Shippou, "You don't look anything alike."

"That's because he was adopted into the Taishou clan, like me. A little over a year ago," said Kagome, who was really tired of explaining that she was adopted.

"Ohhhh," said Naruto, finally understanding.

"Kagome-nee-chan! Tou-san gave me this to give to you! You left it behind!" said Shippou, taking something out of the waistband of the green miniature sashinuki hakama he was wearing.

He took out a small, worn book with dog-eared corners.

"Oh! Arigatou! I was really sad when I found out that I had left it back home!" said Kagome, taking it from him and giving him a hug.

She immediately opened it to see if her bookmark was still there. It was. Closing it, she looked at the cover, which said, 'Go Rin No Sho (Book of Five Rings), by Miyamoto Musashi'. This had been the first book she had ever owned, and she had read it countless times.

'_Go Rin No Sho? She reads books on military strategy?_' thought Kakashi as he read the title.

"Naruto-kun, I believe that your sensei wants to talk to you. We're going to go visit InuYasha," said Kagome, smiling.

She tucked the book into her own waistband, put the flowers in one hand, and took Shippou's hand with the other.

"Aww! Do we have to? He's always so grumpy when he's sick!" pouted Shippou.

"Ja ne!" said Kagome, waving at Naruto.

She walked down the hallway that Kakashi had come out of in order to go to the stairs. Naruto waved back to her and then turned back to Kakashi, his mouth open in order to speak.

"Ano sa! Ano sa! Kakashi-sensei! I have a favor to ask!" he said.

"You don't have to say more. I knew you would come to me. So, I found someone to supervise your training," Kakashi said.

Naruto frowned and pointed at him, saying, "Nan de? I want you, Kakashi-sensei! (8)"

"I have something to do, so I don't have time to look after you," Kakashi told him sternly.

Naruto growled at him and said, "Ah ha! I got it! You're going to train Sasuke!"

"Don't get mad. I found a much better sensei for you than me," Kakashi said.

"Who is it?" asked Naruto dejectedly.

"That is me!" said a voice behind Naruto.

"Ha?" said Naruto, turning and looking behind him.

Then he did a complete one-eighty, turning around and pointing at the person behind him, and yelling in recognition.

"You're the…closet pervert!"

"How impolite," said Ebisu, pushing up his sunglasses, though there was a little sweatdrop on his face.

-o-o-o-

"He's loud, Kagome-nee-chan. We can hear him all the way down here," said Shippou.

"Hai, but he's a nice friend. He wants to get stronger, just like me," said Kagome.

"Why do we have to go see Inu-baka? He's always mean to me!" whined Shippou.

Kagome gave a snort of laughter when she heard him say 'Inu-baka'. Soon after they had met, Shippou had already started calling InuYasha by his old nickname. At the time, he had been an orphan that had been picked up in Ishi no Kuni (Land of Stone). He had stuck to Kagome like a leech for the first few months of his stay in Tsuki no Kuni, eventually leading to his adoption in the Taishou clan.

"It'll be fine. If he's mean to you, I'll punch him on the head," she reassured him.

"Really? But what if a nurse comes in just when you did it?" asked Shippou.

"I'll tell her that he deserved it. And then we'll probably get kicked out," said Kagome.

"That's not very optimistic," mumbled Shippou.

"But it'll be fun!" protested Kagome.

She and Shippou turned a corner into the next hall, and stopped with deadpanned looks on their faces. They stared down the long hallway, which looked like it never ended.

"I hate hospitals," said Kagome, "Everything looks the same no matter where you go."

"Ne, what number did the lady tell you?" asked Shippou.

"Eto…it's thirty-eight," said Kagome, looking around.

They began walking down the hallway, reading the numbers above the doorways. It was very quiet, and it smelled like cleaning chemicals and medicines. An occasional nurse came out of a room with a notepad and went away.

"Here it is, room thirty-eight," said Kagome, stopping in front of a closed door.

She peeked in through the little window in it and saw InuYasha lying on his bed, looking very bored.

"Ikuzou (let's go)," she said, turning the door handle.

Kagome opened the door and stepped in, leading Shippou.

"Eh? Came to see– What the hell are you doing here?" shouted InuYasha, seeing Shippou and pointing at him.

"Tou-san brought me, you dummy!" said Shippou, sticking out his tongue at his older brother.

"Nani? The old man's _here_? Great, I was hoping for a little more break time from him. Matte, if you're _here_, then you must have left Tsuki no Kuni around three weeks after we did!" said InuYasha.

"He probably invited himself. Hopefully, he won't start a war," said Kagome, sighing.

"Anyway," she said, perking up, "I brought you some tanpopo!"

"Why'd you bring me flowers! People will think I'm all girly if I have flowers in my room!" argued InuYasha.

"You like tanpopo! You said so!"

"Yeah, when I was a _kid_! And I liked tanpopo with the seeds coming off, not the flowers!"

"Would you rather I got you some of those?"

"Don't bother!"

Shippou watched this confrontation eagerly and with a little fear. It was always fun to watch InuYasha and Kagome fight, but sometimes they got very violent.

Kagome sighed, and put the dandelions in a nearby empty vase, saying, "Fine, I'll go get some mizu (water) for these. I don't care if you don't like them. What was wrong with you anyway?"

"I had a ruptured spleen or something. They sewed me back up and healed me. The end," said InuYasha, still pissed-off.

"Don't kill each other on while I'm gone," said Kagome, opening the door and slamming it on her way out.

Shippou and InuYasha exchanged glances. An evil smile crept onto InuYasha's face, and a predatory glint appeared in his eyes. He stared at Shippou.

"What?" said Shippou, sweatdropping.

-o-o-o-

Today was not Kakashi's day. As soon as he had handed Naruto over to Ebisu, an ANBU had appeared before him and told him that the Hokage requested his presence. Not that he didn't like the old man, but Kakashi was tired. A day of watching your students get beat up, getting threatened by a Sannin, and fighting a Genin with the skills of a Jounin tended to make one very tired.

"Hokage-sama? You requested me?" he asked, popping his head into the Hokage's office.

"Ah, Kakashi, come in," said the Hokage from behind his desk.

Kakashi did so, and was surprised to see another person in the room with the Hokage. He was tall, with long silver hair tied back samurai-style, friendly golden eyes, and jagged purple tattoos on his cheeks. He wore plate armor over his silver keiko-gi and sashinuki hakama. He was also a handsome man, in a rough, outdoor-type way.

"Kakashi, this is Taishou Touga, the Tsukikage all the way from Tsuki no Kuni," said the Hokage, sweatdropping a little.

"Oh. Douzo yoroshite (nice to meet you), Tsukikage-sama," said a surprised Kakashi, bowing.

The Tsukikage laughed and said, "Onegai, no formalities. Just call me Touga. You're Kopii Ninja no Kakashi (Copy Ninja Kakashi), are you not? It is an honor to meet you."

"Hn? Oh, arigatou gozaimasu, Touga-san," said Kakashi, forcing himself not to bow.

"Kakashi, come and have a seat. The Tsukikage wishes to talk to you," said the Hokage.

"Hai," said Kakashi, and sat down gingerly in one of the chairs in front of the Hokage's desk; it was very odd to be sitting down in the presence of two Kage ('shadows').

The Tsukikage sat and turned his chair at an angle to where he was facing both the Hokage and Kakashi.

"I have come here rather earlier than expected. I suppose that you have barely begun sending out invitations yet," said the Tsukikage, smiling nervously, "But I came here early was because I wanted to request something of you, Kakashi-san."

"Me?" asked Kakashi, surprised.

"Hai. It's about my daughter, Kagome," said Touga.

Kakashi narrowed his eyes; he had completely forgotten that this man was Higurashi Kagome's adopted father.

"You see, after the Chuunin exam is over, I would be deeply honored and thankful if Kagome would be made a citizen of Konohagakure and that you would become her sensei," said the Tsukikage.

"Nani?" said Kakashi; he glanced at the Hokage, but the Tsukikage must have told him ahead of time, since he wasn't reacting.

"Hai. You probably saw at the preliminaries that she possesses the Sharingan. Because you have so much experience with the Sharingan yourself, I was wondering that maybe you would be able to take her on, along with your other students."

"She seemed to be a very advanced user. I don't know what else I could teach her," said Kakashi.

Touga chuckled and said, "True, but Kagome uses the Sharingan for selfish reasons."

"How so?" asked Kakashi.

"Kagome is a…_collector_, of sorts. What she collects are different types of jutsu," explained Touga, "That's why she likes to go around picking fights. She wants to piss somebody off enough that they'll fight her and show her their jutsu. Maybe with your influence, she would stop doing that and use her Sharingan for unselfish reasons."

"Maa, I'm honored that you would choose me for her teacher, demo…" Kakashi trailed off.

"Demo?"

"I read a disturbing report on a massacre in Mizu no Kuni, around nine years ago. At a shrine called Higurashi no Miya. They had their throats slashed and were frozen. Higurashi Kagome has the ability to use hyou," said Kakashi, looking the Tsukikage dead in the eye.

To his surprise, Touga chuckled.

"I see you've been digging around," he said, grinning, "But first, let me tell you a story. Once upon a time, there was a little girl that was hated by her mother. Her mother hated her so much, she kept the child locked up, and nobody knew about her. One day, the little girl managed to sneak out while her mother was asleep. But a naughty man came along and asked the little girl if she was willing to have something sealed inside of her."

"What are you saying?" said Kakashi.

Touga smiled and continued his story, "It wasn't long before the little girl's mother found out that something had been done to her daughter. She tried to exorcise the spirit from her, but when that didn't work, she tricked the villagers into thinking that her daughter was evil and needed to be destroyed. When the villagers attacked the little girl, the spirit inside her woke up, and the little girl fell asleep and forgot everything that had happened in her life up when she woke up again."

Nobody said anything.

"A Bijuu will do anything to protect its host, even if it means using their host to kill people," said Touga.

"You're saying…" said Kakashi slowly, "that Higurashi Kagome has a _Bijuu_ sealed inside of her?"

"Hai. She has a _tenth_ Bijuu sealed within her," said Touga.

"Higurashi Kagome is a Jinchuuriki? That is interesting," mused the Hokage out loud.

"How do you know these things?" asked Kakashi suspiciously.

"It is protocol in Tsukigakure that when a newcomer, child or not, is brought in, a healer knowing a jutsu special to our village would enter their mind to check for any…anomalies. To see if they pose a threat. I was the one who used the jutsu on Kagome, and she doesn't even know I did it. We have to knock them out while we use the jutsu, you see," said Touga.

"If she forgot that she had killed over two dozen people, then how do you know about it?"

"She just doesn't have access to that part of her brain. The memories are still there, but she can't get to them. She has remembered _some_ of who she was, like her name, but that is probably all that she has remembered or will remember."

'_Probably?_' thought Kakashi skeptically.

"I also know from sifting through her memories that she activated the Sharingan naturally. That means she has the blood of the Uchiha clan. But what is interesting is that the Sharingan she has right now was the one she first activated. From my understanding, it is even more powerful than the Mangekyou Sharingan ('kaleidoscope pinwheel eye')," said the Tsukikage.

"How is it that you know a lot about the Uchiha clan, and that the girl knows practically nothing? She threatened Uchiha Sasuke because she didn't know who he was and how powerful his clan was," said Kakashi.

"I, like you, went digging around. But I also told Kagome nothing about her heritage, both from her mother's side and from her unknown father's side. The whole reason why I had Genin from my country come all the way here to Hi no Kuni was to expose her to the rest of the shinobi world," said Touga, bridging his hands under his chin and resting it on them.

Kakashi thought this was very strange for a parent, but he didn't really know those things, either. He had no children of his own, after all.

"The girl is dangerous," said Kakashi.

"She cannot help it. That was the way she was forced to become. She was orphaned at an early age, since no one knew about her, and had to change in order to survive on the streets. She also has her Bijuu under tight control. Her Bijuu, unlike most, means her or the people around her no harm. According to Kagome's memories, the Bijuu had been captured right after it was born and sealed, thus having almost no contact with ningen (humans) that could influence it."

"She _punched_ and _slapped_ Hyuuga Neji," said Kakashi, still trying to get his point across.

"He probably deserved it."

Kakashi had to agree with him there; he had been tempted to knock the brat's head against the wall.

"I'll have to think about it," said Kakashi, feeling slightly pressured.

"Well, then. I'll let you decide. Arigatou, for listening to my request, Kakashi-san, Hokage-sama," said Touga, bowing to both of them.

Then he turned and began walking to the door.

"Matte, Touga-san!" Kakashi called after him, standing up in the process.

"Hai?" said Touga, turning around.

"Your daughter is in danger," said Kakashi.

"Oh?" said both Touga and the Hokage; it was news to the old man, as well.

"Orochimaru wants her," Kakashi said.

"Orochimaru? The Sannin that was exiled from here?" asked Touga, turning all the way around now.

"When did you learn this?" asked the Hokage.

"When I was with Sasuke, Orochimaru approached me and told me about some of his plans. One of his plans was to use Higurashi Kagome as a breeder for new Uchiha," Kakashi told both of the men.

"That is troubling. I will try and keep an eye on Kagome, but I can't assure you that she won't slip out of my sight. She likes to go off on her own. But if she were to meet up with a Sannin like Orochimaru, she'd probably make enough noise to alert you Jounin and the ANBU," said Touga, his brow furrowed in thought.

"Noise? Like yelling?" asked Kakashi.

"Iie. Explosions," said a grinning Touga, making Kakashi sweatdrop slightly.

Touga turned back around.

"Kakashi-san," he said.

"Hai?"

"Kagome is no pushover. She has dedicated her entire life to her nindou and becoming stronger. She's not like other girls, who pretty themselves up and chase after boys. Her entire goal in life is to get stronger in order to make people acknowledge her for who she is. When out in the field, she takes things seriously and is patient about it. She looks before she leaps. To me, that sounds like an ideal student."

'_He's still trying to convince me?_' thought Kakashi.

"Arigatou for telling me about Orochimaru, Kakashi-san," finished Touga, and then he opened the door and left.

There was a moment of silence.

"Well, he is an interesting man. Will you take him up on his offer?" asked the Hokage.

"I'll have to think about it. To me, Higurashi Kagome seems like quite a handful," said Kakashi, ruffling his flyaway hair.

The Hokage chuckled and took his pipe out of his mouth. He blew out some smoke.

"Those are the ones that usually end up being talented ninja. Uzumaki Naruto seems to be coming along nicely, don't you think?" he said, smiling up at Kakashi slyly.

Kakashi said nothing, but he smiled in return, his eye making an upside down 'U'.

"Hai. I think he is," he said.

_**Owari**_

-o-o-o-

**Omake: Out of the Hospital**

"I told you," said Shippou, as he and Kagome walked sullenly out of the hospital doors.

An angry nurse with her arms folded across her chest watched them go.

"I didn't really think it would happen. Maybe you can see into the future," said Kagome.

"Did you _have_ to go and hit him? He's in recovery, after all," Shippou pointed out.

"He deserved it! He was holding you upside down by the ankles and swinging you around!" said Kagome angrily.

"Now we're banned from the hospital, unless we're supervised by an adult," said Shippou, sweatdropping.

Kagome turned and yelled, shaking her fist up at the hospital, "Hora, hora, hora! You can't keep Higurashi Kagome out! Just wait and see! Ha ha!"

The sound of her voice caused several people that were not too sick to get up and open up the windows in the front and look out. A couple of them were glaring nurses. The nurse that had caught Kagome and thrown her and Shippou out opened the door to the entrance and started coming out. Apparently, she had been watching to make sure they didn't cause more trouble.

"Chikushou! Let's ditch!" said Kagome, grabbing Shippou's hand and running away.

-o-o-o-

**Author's Notes**

(1) Totally made this one up, guys. I don't know if it's correct or not

(2) He looks like he ate one of those pieces of 'three-meal' gum off of 'Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory'

(3) O.O

(4) Wow, just like Naruto said

(5) I made a mistake with the last names, so I went back and changed them. That's why Kikyou's last name is different.

(6) How can she even see the board with all the matches from all the way up there?

(7) That kinda gave it away, didn't it? -_-;

(8) That could totally be taken the wrong way

-o-o-o-

Another chapter for all my lovely readers. **I also have a special announcement to make.**

Since I don't want to kill any of you with suspense, I will now announce the official pairings. They are… ***drumroll***

Kagome will get a crush on Kakashi, so it's:

Kagome/Kakashi (one-sided, obviously)

With minor pairings of…

Kagome/Gaara  
Kagome/Neji  
Kagome/Sasuke (one-sided, since Kagome already hates him)  
Kagome/Itachi

Now, if you are unhappy with the main pairing, tough s#1+! Kakashi is my most favorite male character off of Naruto, so he gets the honors. Now tell me, how many of you have had a crush on one of your teachers? ***raises hand*** I know, it's heartbreaking, isn't it? Or maybe you've had a crush on someone older than you, but not a teacher? ***raises hand again and sweatdrops***

But when (not if) I write a Shippuuden sequel to this story (probably _not_ after this one, since I have so many crossover ideas that my head is about to explode), I want to make Kakashi fall in love with Kagome, and therefore, you will get all the tasty stuff, like lemons ***tee hee***

Until next time, ja ne!


	13. Chapter XII: Sennin

For those of you who missed it last chapter; **the pairings will be**:

Kag/Kaka (one-sided girl's crush)

**With minor pairings of:**

Kag/Gaara  
Kag/Neji  
Kag/Sasu  
Kag/Ita

For those of you who are wondering, Kagome will either fight Shikamaru or Kikyou in the tournament, depending on which of the two wins against each other. But that's only with _Dosu_ in the picture, and we all know what happens to him.

Disclaimer: I have my escape tunnel halfway dug. But I have to take the other inmates with me, since I had their help. I don't own InuYasha or Naruto, thank you very much!

**Ages:**

Hyuuga Hiashi – 41

Jiraiya – 50

"talking"

'_thinking_'

'**Bijuu talking to host**'

**Chapter Twelve: Sennin**

-o-o-o-

Machi no hitogomi kata ga butsukatte hitoribocchi  
Hatenai sougen kaze ga byunbyun to hitoribocchi  
Docchi darou? Nakitaku naru basho wa  
Futatsu maru wo, tsukete, choppiri otona sa

In a crowd on a city street, shoulders bumping, I'm alone  
In an endless prairie, wind blowing hard, I'm alone  
I wonder which is the place I'd want to cry?  
Drawing two circles, I feel just a little grown-up

~ 'Hohoemi no Bakudan' (Yuu Yuu Hakusho Opening Theme 1)  
Mawatari Matsuko

-o-o-o-

The news that a foreign ninja that could use the Sharingan had spread through the city of Konohagakure as fast as a wildfire overnight. Not only that, but the description of the ninja was given, as well. Now everyone knew Kagome on sight, and whispers, stares, and points surrounded her wherever she went. She found it extremely unnerving and annoying, especially since she was currently trying to read.

'_**Examine your environment. Stand in the sun; that is, take up an attitude with the sun behind you. If the situation does not allow this, you must try to keep the sun on your right side. In buildings, you must stand with the entrance behind you or to your right. Make sure that–(1)**_' read Kagome, before she was interrupted.

"Is that Hyuuga Hiashi? What's he doing out of the Hyuuga compound?"

"I dunno. Do you reckon something is up?"

"Maybe."

Kagome froze when she heard 'Hyuuga'. She used her bookmark to mark her place and snapped the book shut. Looking up from her leaning spot against a wall, she saw that a crowd had begun gathering at the side of the street. All of them were talking amongst themselves, looking curiously at the street in front of them. Kagome pushed herself away from the wall and walked up to one of onlookers.

"Ne, what's going on?" she asked.

"Hyuuga Hiashi has come out of the Hyuuga compound! He rarely ever comes out, and it's usually for something urgent!" said the man, and another looked at him curiously.

"Who's Hyuuga Hiashi?" asked Kagome, thankful that this man didn't seem to recognize her from the rumors.

"Nani? You don't know–?"

"I'm foreign," said Kagome, tapping her hitai-ite.

The man glanced at her hitai-ite and look of understanding dawned on his face.

"Oh! Well, Hyuuga Hiashi is the leader of the Hyuuga clan. You've heard of them, haven't you?" asked the man.

Kagome felt a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach.

"Hai," she said.

Then she cleared her throat and said, "So, he's in the street in front of here, is he?"

The man nodded.

"Well, good. And what is he doing?" asked Kagome.

"He's talking to somebody. He looks like he's looking for somebody," said the man.

'_Yeah, me. I'd better get out of here before he kills me first for assaulting Hyuuga Neji,_' thought Kagome.

"Okay. Ja ne," she said to the man, and turned and began edging away behind the crowd, much to the man's confusion.

'_I've got to stay hidden. I don't want him finding me,_' thought Kagome, her palms sweaty.

She ducked and weaved behind people, but it wasn't going very well. She finally had to go into the crowd and push people out of the way in order to get through. Everything was going great.

'_I'm going to get away! I'm going to get away! I'm going to–_' she thought, and someone suddenly bumped into her, sending her sprawling onto the street.

She coughed, since the air had been knocked out of her lungs, and pushed herself up into a sitting position.

"Itai…"

"Oi! What'd you do that for?" she yelled, shaking her fist at the person who had bumped into her.

"Gomen ne! I didn't see you!" apologized the person.

"You should still look out for people, no matter how short they are!" yelled Kagome.

Then she realized she was _on_ the street. Out in the open. Where everyone could see her. She turned her head slowly, preparing to meet her doom.

Standing several feet away was a man dressed in a white kimono, obviously made out of expensive material. He had long dark hair that was cut in the style that most older male clan leaders had. He had a stern face. But what made Kagome's heart nearly leap out of her chest were his pale, pupil-less eyes. Definitely a relative of Hyuuga Neji and Hinata.

Beside this man was another man with pale eyes, but he was probably just one of the required bodyguards that let everyone else know how important the first man was. It was also protocol. Kagome stood hurriedly, ready to bolt. But the first man, presumably Hyuuga Hiashi, noticed this.

"Matte," he said, no, demanded.

Kagome froze, though her brain was telling her to hightail it out of there as fast as she could. Hiashi approached, his bodyguard trailing after him like an invisible string was towing him. The crowd watched in surprise and confusion.

"You. What is your name?" asked Hiashi, his face set in a permanent stern look.

"Me?" asked Kagome.

"Yes, you."

"H-higurashi Kagome," she said.

The bodyguard went past Hiashi and stood to where Kagome couldn't escape. Her heart beat even faster. To her confusion, Hiashi grasped her by the chin with his thumb and index finger. He turned her head this way and that, as if inspecting her. Kagome's eyes were as round as dinner plates.

"She certainly has the look," Hiashi commented to his bodyguard.

'_The look to what?_' thought Kagome desperately.

"Hai, Hiashi-sama," agreed the bodyguard, confirming Kagome's suspicions about who the first man was.

"Though the eyes are of an outside influence. Girl, you can use the Sharingan, can you not?" said Hiashi, still holding her chin.

"H-hai," said Kagome shakily.

"Show me."

"Eh?" she said.

People were muttering even more in the crowd, and many were leaning in for a closer look.

"I said, show me."

Hiashi's pale, unblinking eyes were starting to make her really uncomfortable, so Kagome did what he said, to make things go through quicker. She closed her eyes, summoned her chakra into them, and opened them. Gasps went through the crowd when they saw her red and black eyes. Hiashi just narrowed his own eyes at her calculatingly. Kagome considered herself lucky that she wasn't trembling under the scrutiny of it yet.

"Nan sai desu ka (how old are you)?" he asked.

"Juusan (thirteen)," said Kagome, wondering if he was going to ask her any embarrassing questions.

But he didn't. He simply let go of her chin and stood up to his full height. Kagome let the Sharingan fade out of her eyes.

"You may go," he said, and the bodyguard moved back to his side again.

Kagome wondered if she had heard correctly, but decided that this was her chance to get away. Remembering her formal manners that had been drilled into her after her adoption into the Taishou clan, Kagome bowed deeply and respectively, folding her hands in front of her, and then took off running. If this seemed rude to him, then her bow would make up for it.

She didn't stop running until she was several blocks away. When she finally did stop, she slumped against a wall and slid down it onto her butt. She clasped her shaking hands together to try and get them to stop shaking.

"What a scary man," she said to herself.

Then she realized something. Her eyes widened. She stood up and clutched the sides of her head.

"Oh, my god! I called myself _short_!" she shouted.

-o-o-o-

Hiashi's bodyguard cast him a curious look as they walked back to the Hyuuga compound. But he didn't say or ask anything. He was from the branch house, and they weren't supposed to ask questions.

"You are wondering why I went out of my way to find a mere girl, isn't that right, Kou?" asked Hiashi.

Kou jumped in surprise.

"Hai, Hiashi-sama," he said.

"The girl possesses the Sharingan, therefore she is from the Uchiha clan. She has noble blood. And Neji will most likely get married one day," explained Hiashi.

Kou looked at his clan leader with astonishment and said, "Married? You mean, you want to _betroth_ that girl to him? But she's not even from Konoha!"

"I will speak to the girl's sensei," said Hiashi with finality.

'_She has had _some _noble influence. She made sure she bowed to me formally before she ran off,_' thought Hiashi.

-o-o-o-

Miroku pulled on his gloves, clenching and unclenching his hands in order to loosen them up. He looked around the room and saw only himself, Sesshoumaru, Touga, Shippou, and Touga's two guards, Touran and Shuuran.

"Where's Kagome-sama?" asked Miroku.

"She went out. We'll be lucky if we even see her in a few days," said Sesshoumaru.

"What's she going to do? Sleep in a tree? Won't she get in trouble?" asked Miroku.

"She considers it part of her training by living outdoors," said Sesshoumaru.

"But she left most of her stuff here. Her bow and her erhu," said Miroku, gesturing at said items leaning against the wall.

"She'll probably come back for them when we're not here," said Sesshoumaru.

"And where are _we_ going?" asked Miroku pointedly.

"_You_ are going to train," said Touga, tightening the strings on his boots.

"And where are you going?" asked Miroku.

"Around," said Touga vaguely.

"Miroku, ikuzou," said Sesshoumaru, opening up the door to the room.

Miroku shrugged and followed his sensei out of the room and out into the hallway. Shippou watched them go and then looked at his adopted father.

"Ne, tou-san?" he asked.

"Hm?" said Touga.

"Why didn't you want to stay where the other daimyou and shinobi leaders stay when they visit?"

"Because they are too fancy for me!" said Touga, smiling.

He turned to his required guards.

"Touran. Shuuran," he said.

"Hai!" said the other two, snapping to attention.

"Take the day off. Go and explore the village. Buy some souvenirs," said Touga.

"Demo…! Tsukikage-sama…!" protested Touran, her pale blue hair glinting in the sunlight coming through the window.

Touga frowned and said, "How many times do I have to tell you? Just call me by my actual name when nobody that cares is around. Besides, the only reason I brought you two is because, one, it's protocol, two, you're my best guards, and three, I thought you two could use a holiday. Now, go out there and buy some souvenirs, or else your sisters will have a fit."

Touran and Shuuran were siblings, Touran being the eldest. They had two younger sisters. The third-oldest sibling was Karan, who specialized in Katon (Fire Release) jutsu. Shunran was the youngest out of all of them and specialized in Doton (Earth Release) jutsu. Touran specialized in Suiton (Water Release) jutsu, while Shuuran specialized Raiton (Lightning Release) jutsu.

The fact that all of the siblings had little resemblance in features had cast some suspicion over the Yamaneko ('mountain cat') clan. Touran had pale blue hair that she kept boyishly short, along with eyes about the same shade. She was reasonably tall, and had pale skin. Shuuran was the tallest of all the siblings, and he was also muscled. His skin was lightly tanned, and his eyes were brown like his hair. Karan had lightly tanned skin, as well, but her hair and eyes were fiery red. Shunran had dark-auburn hair, as well as dark, forest-green eyes. She had paler skin than Karan and Shuuran, but not as pale as Touran. Both her and Karan were about the same height, and were shorter than Touran by about a foot.

Because of the lack of similarity between the siblings, their father had gone as far as to demand a DNA test, to prove if he was the father of any of them. Their mother had been shocked and outraged. But blood samples were collected from all four siblings, including the father. Around two weeks later, the DNA tests came back, and said that their father was their real father. The siblings' father became the laughingstock of Tsukigakure for several months. But his excuse was how dissimilar his children looked from each other, and from himself. A few people had patted him on the back and told him that genes were like that sometimes, and that his children's case was just an exaggerated one.

Touran looked disappointed and said, "Hai."

"We'll make sure we get some souvenirs," agreed Shuuran.

"You're dismissed," said Touga, and his two guards bowed.

They slid open the shoji door and went out into the hall, just like Miroku and Sesshoumaru before them. Touga straightened up and looked down at Shippou.

"Wari, to keep you waiting. Now, where do you want to go, after we visit our other teams?" he asked his son.

"Everywhere! Especially the ramen shops!" said Shippou, stars twinkling in his eyes from his excitement.

Touga chuckled; he didn't know what it was with all his children, adopted or not, liking ramen. Even Sesshoumaru could be a hog sometimes, especially when it came to Kagome's homemade ramen that she had invented herself. Touga had caught his eldest son stuffing his face with Kagome's leftover ramen in a closet, when Touga had gone to get a midnight snack. Touga doubted that Sesshoumaru would ever live that one down.

"Well, let's go, then!" he said, and went to open the door.

Shippou followed after him happily, a bounce in his step. He was on the way out the door, running after his tou-san, when something flickered out of the corner of his eye.

"Hm?" said Shippou, pausing in the doorway.

He looked back towards the window, where he had seen the flicker, but there was nothing to be seen.

"Something wrong?" asked Touga from the hall, frowning down at his son.

Shippou blinked as he looked at the window, and then shook his head.

"Iie, it's nothing," he said, and continued following Touga down the hall.

'_It was probably just a tori (bird)._'

-o-o-o-

'_**When the enemy attacks, remain undisturbed but feign weakness. As the enemy reaches you, suddenly move away indicating that you intend to jump aside, then dash in attacking strongly as soon as you see the enemy relax. This is the one way.**_'

Kagome was walking on the ridges at the very tops of the houses, where the roof met at the top. She was also reading her 'Go Rin No Sho' book. But it was hard to focus considering that people were _still_ pointing and staring at her. But maybe that was because she was walking on the roof. She didn't mind it as much up here, since she could be embarrassed in worse ways.

Like the previous night, for example. Once he had set eyes on her, the Tsukikage had swooped down on her like a vulture and hugged her nearly to death. He kept saying things like 'he had missed his little angel', which earned him a goose egg on the head from Kagome at the word 'little'. When he could no longer get anymore out of her, he approached Sesshoumaru. Kagome and Shippou had stared when they saw Touga giving Sesshoumaru a hug. Sesshoumaru might as well have been a statue, because he didn't move one inch. With his other two children greeted, Touga simply plucked up Shippou and began tickling him. Then he had left them, followed by his two guards, to go see InuYasha at the hospital.

Or when Hyuuga Hiashi had made her downright cower in the street a couple of hours ago. What was his problem, anyway? Why couldn't he just stay at the Hyuuga compound like a good little clan leader?

'_Kuso… He was comparing me to the stupid Uchiha clan, I just know it,_' thought Kagome, gritting her teeth.

She was so irritated that she closed her book and tucked it away. Then a pebble was thrown near her feet.

"Huh?" she said, all anger temporarily forgotten.

She looked up, and nearly face-faulted. It was _them_.

"What are _you_ doing here?" she demanded.

"Ano…we heard you can use the Sharingan," said Daisuke.

"Is it really true?" asked Kira.

"Does that mean you're a lost Uchiha clan member?" asked Gin.

A tick mark appeared on Kagome's head. One of her eyebrows twitched as she glared at the three boys.

"Ne, can you show us the Sharingan?" asked Daisuke.

"Onegai!"

"Will you be my girlfriend?" asked Gin.

"Get a life!" barked Kagome, and turned back around.

They began following her down the ridge of the roof, though they didn't keep their balance nearly as well as she did. Kira almost fell off the roof and onto the street a couple of times. But all the while, they begged her to go out with them, or to show them her Sharingan, or to teach them how to walk on the ridge. Kagome was getting angrier and angrier.

Finally, she said, "That's it!"

She took off running across the roof and hurled herself over the edge. The three boys gave gasps and ran over to where she had jumped down. They looked down into the alley below, only to see Kagome's figure taking off around a corner.

"Matte!" shouted Gin.

"Please wait for us!" shouted Daisuke.

"We're very sorry if we hurt your feelings!" yelled Kira.

They jumped down and took off around the corner they had seen Kagome run. There was a moment of silence. Then Kagome stepped away from the wall, becoming visible once more. She closed her eyes and dusted her hands off, and tucked the end of the bandages on her left arm securely through one of the other loops of bandages on the same arm.

"'Hurt my feelings', my ass," she said, stuffing her hands into her pockets and walking the opposite direction that the others had gone.

-o-o-o-

Gaara was sitting by the window, thinking. He thought about a lot of things, like Uchiha Sasuke, 'Kaa-san', blood, and _her_. _Her_, especially. It infuriated him that she had hardly spared him a glance after his match was over. 'Kaa-san' had told him not to worry, that it would take a little time to win her over, but Gaara felt impatient to earn her approval.

The sounds of yelling from the rooftop from across the way made him snap out of his thoughts. A single, small figure, followed by three more, ran across the roof across from the building he was in. He narrowed his eyes; it was _her_.

-o-o-o-

"Please wait! Stop!" shouted Daisuke.

And quite suddenly, 'Kagome' did, making the other three stop, as well. For a couple of seconds, 'Kagome' didn't turn her back. But when she did, she had an evil smirk on her face. She did a thumbs-down sign.

"You've been had," she said, still smirking.

"Eh?" said the boys.

And then she disappeared in a poof of smoke.

-o-o-o-

Gaara actually felt amused when he saw that _she_ had been nothing more than a Bunshin (clone). That certainly sent the boys on the roof into a frenzy.

"Nani? It was a Kage Bunshin!" said one of them.

"You knucklehead! Now we'll never find her!"

"She'll go out with me first!"

"Yeah, right! And pigs will fly! She'll go out with _me_ first!"

Gaara growled in his throat at this. He narrowed his eyes at the boys, wanting to rip their heads off. They would not dare touch what was his! He growled again, a more guttural sound than before.

Kankurou and Temari exchanged cautious glances. Ever since Gaara had come back from the preliminaries yesterday, he had been acting weird. Even weirder than usual. Both of them had a sneaking suspicion that it was because of the girl that had the Sharingan.

'_Taku… I don't know if I can handle this anymore…_' thought Kankurou, looking at Gaara out of the corner of his eye.

-o-o-o-

Kagome walked through the market, looking at the various items on display. It was one of those nice outdoor types, and this one was selling things like fruits and vegetables, as well as a few other oddities. She looked at all the different fruits that she had never seen before.

'_Maybe I should get an apple… Iie, maybe an orange. Hey, there's something orange…_' she thought, looking up in surprise.

It was Naruto. He was currently holding a watermelon that looked like it had a round body and a slightly-smaller round head. And he was also trying to pay the seller while trying to hold onto the watermelon. The watermelon slipped from his grasp, almost hitting the ground. Luckily, Naruto caught it in time. Kagome hurried over there to give him a hand.

"Here, Naruto-kun," she said, taking the watermelon from him.

"Oh, thanks, Kagome-chan!" said Naruto, taking out a couple ryou (2) from his wallet.

He handed the bills to the vender and turned to Kagome, laughing and rubbing the back of his neck.

"Ohayou, Kagome-chan!" he said.

"Ohayou, Naruto-kun. Ne, what's this for?" asked Kagome, hefting up the watermelon in order to hold it better.

"Well, I was training with the closet pervert, and then we saw this guy peeking into the women's hot springs. So the closet pervert tried to stop him, but the guy peeking in knocked him out by summoning a huge kaeru (frog)! I tried to make him train me to make up for knocking out the closet pervert, but the Ero Sennin (Pervert Sage) said that he wouldn't unless I brought him something that had a figure like this, this and this! He said he also wanted it to be a fruit that has matured like that!" said Naruto, talking a million miles an hour and making motions in the air.

Kagome sweatdropped; the figure he had just outlined in the air looked awfully like a woman's. The vendor that Naruto had just bought the fruit from was giving him a weird look, as well.

"Let me get this straight," said Kagome, taking a deep breath, "You were training with 'Closet Pervert', when 'Ero Sennin' knocked him out. He interrupted your training, so you wanted him to train you in the place of 'Closet Pervert'. And he sent you to look for an onna, so that he would train you?"

"Iie, iie, not an onna! A fruit!" said Naruto, shaking his head.

'_Poor Naruto-kun. This 'Ero Sennin' is playing him like a harp,_' thought Kagome.

"Naruto-kun?"

"Ha?"

"How about we go and take this suika (watermelon) to 'Ero Sennin'?" said Kagome, handing the watermelon to him.

"Un!" said Naruto, nodding.

-o-o-o-

Jiraiya was laughing. He was currently sitting outside a teashop and trying to get into the pants of the two younger women sitting several feet away from him.

One of them giggled and said, "Oh, you kid. You're funny, jii-san!"

Jiraiya held up a hand and said, "But this is a true story! I'm not lying!"

The other woman laughed and said, "And? What happened after that?"

"Oi! Ero Sennin!" called Naruto's voice.

"Oh, did you hear that? Ero Sennin!" laughed the first woman to her companion.

Jiraiya was freaking out. He turned towards Naruto, holding up a fist.

"You fool! Who are you calling Ero Sennin?" he demanded.

Naruto ran up with the watermelon and said, "I brought you the thing you wanted! A fruit that has matured quite well!"

Kagome ran up beside him and raised an eyebrow at Jiraiya.

"_This_ is Ero Sennin? You're right, he does look like an old hentai," she said.

Jiraiya's eyes twitched in anger at Naruto. He jumped up with a meat cleaver that had appeared out of nowhere.

"Baka! Baka! Baka! Baka! That's not what I meant!" he yelled, slicing the watermelon in half on the table.

Then he sliced them into multiple pieces and presented most of them to Naruto. Naruto sat down at the table and looked at the slices of watermelon eagerly.

"This looks good!" he exclaimed.

"Now, now, eat up," Jiraiya told him.

"Here, Kagome-chan! You can have some of mine!" said Naruto, giving half of his slices to Kagome.

Kagome pulled up a chair beside him.

"Itadakimasu!" they said, and began to dig in.

Jiraiya looked over towards the two women, except that they were no longer there where they had been sitting.

"Where did the ladies go?" he moaned in despair.

"They got chased away by your perverseness," Kagome muttered between bites.

"That's not true! And who are you, anyway?" demanded Jiraiya.

"Naruto-kun's friend, Ero Sennin-san!" said Kagome, smiling cutely with watermelon juice dripping down her chin.

"Great, now there are two of them saying it," muttered Jiraiya.

Kagome and Naruto finished their watermelon pieces in no time. Black watermelon seeds littered the table, and Naruto burped, holding his stomach.

"I'm full," he said.

Kagome's stomach growled and she said, "I'm still hungry…"

Jiraiya pouted and said, "Ladies…"

Then he got up and started walking away from the teashop.

"Yare yare, looks like I wasted some time," he muttered.

Naruto got up and ran in front of him, holding his arms out to stop Jiraiya from going any further.

"Chotto matte! Where do you think you're going? What are you going to do with my training?" demanded Naruto loudly.

"I don't care! You ruined my data-gathering!" yelled Jiraiya, waving his arms around as if he were trying to fly.

"You're a selfish jii-chan!" yelled Kagome, running up beside Naruto.

Naruto 'hmphed' and pointed at Jiraiya, saying, "'Data-gathering', my ass! I can't just stay here and do nothing! I need to train like hell, become stronger than everyone, pass the Chuunin exam, and surpass all the Hokage!"

Jiraiya gave a girly laugh and said, "That's none of my business. You keep bothering me and bothering me. Taku, what an unpleasant gaki!"

"I'll show you unpleasant," muttered Kagome, glaring at the older man.

Jiraiya put up his hands like he was typing on a typewriter and made an evil face.

"I need babes like the ones you saw for my great writing!" he said.

"Sou ka, so I just have to bring you a sexy babe?" asked Naruto, looking up at Jiraiya.

"Naruto-kun! Don't encourage him!" said Kagome.

"Yoshi," said Naruto, cracking his knuckles.

He made a hand seal, and there was a poof of smoke. When the smoke cleared away, it revealed a totally naked, adult female Naruto with mist surrounding 'her' extremities. Kagome stared, and then burst out laughing. Jiraiya gaped, his eyes bugging out. Kagome was rolling on the ground, tears streaming down her face.

"Oh, my…" gasped Jiraiya.

"Please don't stare so much… I'm getting embarrassed," said Naruto in a cute female voice.

Jiraiya reached out toward Naruto and stopped, feeling really hot.

'_What… What a cute girl…_' he thought.

"I like you!" Jiraiya declared, giving double thumbs-ups and looking a donkey.

"You pass!" he said, holding up two little signs with kanji that said 'One-hundred Points'.

'_He's an idiot,_' thought Naruto, not believing what a moron Jiraiya was being.

"You're _my_ type of girl. What do you call this jutsu?" asked Jiraiya, looking at Naruto from different angles with amazement.

"I call it the Oiroke no Jutsu (Sexy Technique)…" said Naruto, actually feeling a little embarrassed.

"Great idea! You're a genius!" said Jiraiya, drooling buckets.

"Oi, Naruto-kun! Can you teach me how to do that?" asked Kagome from the ground, a mischievous glint in her eye.

'_I'm starting to think all adults are weak against this jutsu,_' thought Naruto, not paying attention to what Jiraiya was saying.

Naruto perked up, eyes shining, and said, "Then will you supervise my training?"

"Un, but there is one condition," said Jiraiya.

Naruto put the tip of his finger on his bottom lip and hunched down cutely.

"Condition? What kind of condition?" he asked.

More drool came out of Jiraiya's mouth and his nose started to bleed. He turned away, his face red. He pushed the ends of his index fingers together shyly, while Naruto looked at him with confusion. Kagome just glared at the old man.

'_What a hentai. How did Naruto get mixed up with a guy like this?_' she thought, putting her chin into the palm of her hand and leaning on her elbow.

Jiraiya finally looked back at Naruto and said in a hoarse voice, "You must remain in that form whenever you are with me." (3)

Naruto's eyes bugged out in anger and disbelief, and then he dispelled the jutsu.

"Hora! You _are_ just a pervert, you Ero Sennin!" he shouted, pointing at Jiraiya.

"I ought to feed you to the slugs, hentai!" said Kagome, getting up and throwing a kick at Jiraiya, who dodged it.

"No, I'm no ordinary pervert!" said Jiraiya.

"Nani? Don't play dumb with me!" growled Naruto.

Jiraiya made weird noises as if he were a rooster crowing. He made the typewriter motions again as he looked down at Naruto.

"I'm a super pervert!" he said.

Naruto shook with anger and said, "Kuso… He openly admitted it…"

'_Who the hell would say that…?_' thought Kagome.

-o-o-o-

Later in the afternoon, Jiraiya and Naruto were kneeling beside a river. Kagome was sitting a little ways from them, skipping rocks.

"I was kidding about what I said earlier. I will supervise your training," said Jiraiya.

"You better be telling the truth," said Naruto, looking at Jiraiya angrily.

Jiraiya looked at Naruto and said, "A Sennin does not take back his words. Now, kid. Resume the training you were doing back there."

"Yoshi!" said Naruto, standing up and walking over to the river's edge.

Kagome looked up and watched him go.

"Yoshi…" said Naruto, making a hand seal.

Chakra went down and focused into his feet. Hesitantly, he took a step onto the water's surface. He wheeled his arms around as he took more steps, trying to keep his balance.

Kagome noticed this and narrowed her eyes.

'_Walking on water is really simple. Why is he having such a hard time doing it? It's almost like something's blocking or tampering with his chakra,_' she thought, watching as Naruto's foot went through the surface of the water.

Naruto lost his balance and feel backwards into the river. Jiraiya narrowed his eyes, noticing the same thing Kagome had. Then he threw back his head and guffawed loudly.

Naruto resurfaced with a gasp and said, "Kuso…"

He crawled up out of the river and stood on the bank, his clothes dripping.

"Mataku, you can't do it right at all!" said Jiraiya.

"Urusai!" said Naruto.

He walked over near Jiraiya and began peeling his pants, shirt, and sandals off.

"There's no point in wearing clothes here," he said with frustration.

"Oi. Try molding some chakra again," Jiraiya told him.

"Huh? Again?" asked Naruto.

"Just do it," said Jiraiya.

Naruto made the same hand seal, and Jiraiya, plus Kagome, watched the chakra flow into his feet. Jiraiya gave a gasp when he noticed something.

"You!" he said.

'_I was right! Something _is_ blocking his chakra! At his navel!_' thought Kagome, and she got up and began walking over to Naruto.

"Huh?" said Naruto, wondering what Jiraiya was yelling about.

"You're quite sexy when you get naked," said Jiraiya, trying to cover up for his outburst. (4)

'_Can't you come up with better excuse, jii-san?_' thought Kagome, sweatdropping.

"Taku! Taku! I'm trying to concentrate! Don't bother me!" Naruto yelled at him.

"Ahh! Wari, wari. Continue," said Jiraiya, smiling up at Naruto.

"You're messing me up…" muttered Naruto angrily as he did yet another hand seal.

As the chakra went down to Naruto's feet, the seal that kept the Kyuubi inside of him appeared on his stomach around his bellybutton. Jiraiya narrowed his eyes. Kagome peered at the seal, but moved over when Jiraiya got up and wanted to inspect it himself. He squatted down in front of Naruto and studied the seal with narrowed eyes.

'_Sou ka. So this is the sealing system that was used to seal Kyuubi. It consists of two Shishou Fuuin (Four Symbol Seal(s))… It must be a Hakke no Fuuin Shiki (Eight Trigrams Sealing Style). It is set up so that the chakra of Kyuubi can leak out from the Shishou Fuuin and be converted into his own. The Yondaime (Fourth) must've done it to protect him,_' thought Jiraiya, smiling a little.

Then the sealing that Orochimaru had put around the original showed up. Kagome leaned in closer, examining it.

'_So _this_ is what's messing with his chakra. It's amazing that he won at the preliminaries with this thing on him,_' she thought.

'_But that has been stopped with the Gogyou Fuuin (Five Element Seal),_' thought Jiraiya, putting his hand over the seal and rubbing it, '_An odd-numbered seal on top of an even-numbered seal. His chakra and the chakra of Kyuubi mix inconsistently, so it has become unstable. No wonder he can't mold chakra well._'

As Jiraiya continued to rub the seal on Naruto's stomach, Naruto began to laugh.

"Old man, that tickles!" giggled Naruto.

Jiraiya looked up at him and said, "Ohh! Wari, wari."

He stood and thought, '_Somebody else must've done it, the system is pretty rough. Must've been Orochimaru._'

Jiraiya loosened the fingers in his right hand up, cracked his knuckles, and then let chakra flow into the tips of that hand. He had already hid that hand behind his back before letting chakra into it.

'_He's going to get rid of it?_' thought Kagome.

"Bouzu (boy), put your hands up," said Jiraiya, gesturing upwards.

"Huh?" said Naruto.

"Just do it, come on. Banzai (cheers)!" said Jiraiya kindly as he lifted up the hand that wasn't about to be used to unseal Naruto.

Naruto hesitantly raised his arms. He blinked up at Jiraiya with innocent confusion.

'_He gives so many orders,_' he thought.

The chakra on Jiraiya's fingers burned brighter.

Jiraiya drew back that hand and said, "Gogyou Kaiin (Five Element Unseal)!"

He pushed into Naruto's navel with that hand. Naruto gave a yell of surprise and pain, and then he flew backwards and fell onto his butt, his seal steaming. The chakra on Jiraiya's fingers vanished and he smiled when he saw Orochimaru's seal fade away. Then Kyuubi's seal went away.

"Naruto-kun, daijoubu?" asked Kagome, kneeling down beside him.

Naruto coughed and held his stomach.

"Daijoubu! Oi! Why did you do that, jii-san…?" Naruto wheezed.

"I just hit some points in your body that relax you. Try and walk on the mizu (water) again," said Jiraiya, gesturing at the water.

'_At least he didn't say something perverted like last time,_' thought Kagome.

"Taku…" said Naruto, standing up and holding his stomach.

He walked over and stepped on the water. He gave an exclamation when he had no trouble balancing on the surface of the water.

"Huh?" he said.

He hopped from one foot to the other, joyfully saying, "I don't know why, but it's working!"

"Yatta! You did it, Naruto-kun!" cheered Kagome.

"Yeah! I'm amazing!" cried Naruto, jumping around like a frog.

Jiraiya smiled at the sight and thought, '_I guess it's about time to teach him how to control the chakra of Kyuubi._'

"Yoshi, bouzu, come here," he said, jerking his thumb over his shoulder.

"Ha?"

"I'm going to teach you a move that I've kept in store for you."

"Nani? Nani? A secret move?" said Naruto excitedly as he ran over to Jiraiya, "Is it a killer move?"

"Maa, I think it's about time I get going now. I have training, too," said Kagome, standing and rubbing the back of her neck as she smiled.

"Hn?" said Naruto.

"Have fun, Naruto-kun. And good luck," said Kagome, mussing up his hair; Naruto pouted at that.

She turned and began walking away.

"Oi! Kagome-chan!" Naruto called after her.

"Hai?" she asked, looking over her shoulder.

"Good luck to you, too!" Naruto said loudly.

Kagome smiled, and continued walking away. Once she was out of sight, Jiraiya dug his elbow into Naruto's side.

"Oh ho ho! Is she your girlfriend? The foreign ones are the best!" said Jiraiya slyly, holding a fan with a red circle on it – which he had mysteriously conjured out of nowhere – in front of his mouth.

"Kuso… She's not my girlfriend," said Naruto, smoothing out his hair where Kagome had messed it up.

"Well, then why are you hanging around with her?" asked Jiraiya.

"Because she believes in me! And she's nice to me! She understands me!" Naruto burst out.

"Okay, okay," said a sweatdropping Jiraiya, putting up his hands in front him.

'_This bouzu sure is energetic,_' he thought.

-o-o-o-

The moment that Kagome set foot into the rooms that she was sharing with the others, and had looked at her bag, she knew someone had been digging around in it. The wrinkles on it were not the same ones that had been on it when she had left that morning. Her teammates knew better than to touch her bag, and she doubted Touga, Shippou, Touran, or Shuuran would have bothered with it either. Someone had been looking for something.

Quick as a flash, she was over by her bag, unzipping it, and looking inside. Whoever had gone looking through it had done a good job of not disturbing things. She was thankful when she saw that her undergarments hadn't been touched at all, or even the couple of layers above that. Kagome opened the front pouch of her bag, and immediately saw what the culprit had taken. _Her glove._

The day before, Kagome had put on a spare pair of gloves that she always carried around in case her first pair was damaged. She had put the other pair in the front pocket. The glove that was missing was the one with the blood on it.

'_That's not good,_' thought Kagome, swallowing uneasily.

She sniffed to see if she could recognize the scent of the thief. To her dismay, they had erased their scent altogether. That meant they didn't want her to even know that they had been there, and that their reasons for taking the glove were probably not good. Another disturbing fact.

"Maa, I'm not going to cry a river over it. I guess I'll see what happens," said Kagome, shouldering her pack.

She also slung her erhu case, Sou'unga, and her quiver over her shoulder. Then she walked out of the room, preparing to look for a decent training ground.

-o-o-o-

Naruto lay asleep in bed, while Jiraiya sat outside on the landing outside his window. Jiraiya looked up when he heard footsteps, but only saw Ebisu. Ebisu walked over to where Jiraiya was, but didn't say anything. Instead, he put his hands on the wall surrounding the landing and looked out at the village.

"Wari na, Ebisu (sorry, Ebisu). I stole one of your students," said Jiraiya.

"Iie," said Ebisu, and turned to look at Jiraiya, "But I am surprised. Hokage-sama has been looking for you, but he could not determine where you were at all. And it turns out you were in this village. Hokage-sama will be pleased."

Jiraiya looked at Ebisu out of the corner of his eye, though his face was facing forward.

"Did you tell the Sandaime about me?" he asked.

"Iie, not yet," said Ebisu.

"Sou ka. Let's leave it that way."

"Does this have to do with Orochimaru?" asked Ebisu.

"Iie, I'm sorry, but it doesn't," answered Jiraiya.

"Eh?"

"I just visited this place to get ideas for my novel. I don't like to butt into troublesome messes," said Jiraiya.

"What are you talking about?" exclaimed Ebisu, "You should already know! To stop Orochimaru, the one praised as one of the legendary Sannin (Three Ninja), we need another person from the legendary Sannin… You!"

Jiraiya didn't move or say anything.

"Jiraiya-sama!"

Jiraiya looked at Ebisu, but said nothing.

-o-o-o-

"When do you reckon we'll see Kagome-sama again?" asked Miroku, as he lay on his futon.

When he and Sesshoumaru had returned from their training, Kagome's remaining belongings had vanished. Miroku guessed this was because Kagome had come and got it, and then left without a trace.

"Maybe next week," said Sesshoumaru.

"_Maybe?_" said Miroku.

"You should know Kagome's habits by now, Miroku. She likes to be on her own when she trains," mumbled Touga from his futon.

"I don't live with her like you guys do," defended Miroku.

"You spent a year with her out in the wilderness with InuYasha and me," said Sesshoumaru, wishing Miroku would shut up and go to sleep.

"I was too worried that she was going kill me! That was shortly after she came to Tsukigakure, remember?" said Miroku, his voice steadily growing louder.

"Would you shut up?" asked Touran, from where she was lying in front of the window.

"Who asked you, anyway?" asked Miroku.

"Will you all be quiet already?" asked Shuuran from his place in front of the door.

"I was just asking a question!" said Miroku.

"It's not a question anymore, it's a conversation," said Touga.

"WILL YOU ALL BE QUIET? CAN'T A KID GET SOME SLEEP AROUND HERE?" bellowed Shippou.

It was quiet.

"Arigatou," he said, and turned over to go back to sleep.

_**Owari**_

-o-o-o-

**Omake: Sneezing**

Kagome was sleeping soundly in a tree near the training grounds, where nobody was likely to find her. Her belongings were tied to the branches above her so that they wouldn't fall. Plus, if anyone tried to take them, they would have to untie the ropes first, and that would make noise. Unless they were ninja, who could just use a jutsu to untie them.

Suddenly, Kagome sneezed in her sleep. This sneeze woke her up, but it also caused her to fall out of the tree and onto the ground with a painful 'thump!' For a few seconds, Kagome was like a dying fish, trying to catch her breath.

"Itai…" Kagome managed to gasp.

Then she sneezed again. She rubbed her nose.

'_Who the hell is talking about me at this time of night?_' she wondered, and then hopped back into the tree.

-o-o-o-

**Author's Notes**

(1) This is an excerpt from the real book of Go Rin No Sho

(2) The _ryou_ is the currency used in the Naruto world, and is based off the type of money used in Japan before it was replace by the _yen_. Ten yen equals one ryou, according to Masashi Kishimoto. A yen is about one cent in U.S. currency

(3) Jiraiya's such a f-ing hentai

(4) What the hell is wrong with him?

-o-o-o-

A short chapter… -_-; Oh, well, I'll try to write more next chapter! For those of you who are not Kag/Kaka fans, I'll try to put in as much Kag/Gaara, Kag/Neji, and Kag/Sasu as I can, but she won't end up or fall in love with those three! And Itachi only shows up like once in the Naruto series. Kagome won't end up with anybody in this fanfic. Sorry, guys…;_; When I finish this and get the Shippuuden sequel started, there will be actual Kag/Kaka, with a little Kag/Ita. For now, I'm trying to build up to that.


	14. Chapter XIII: Betrothal

AHHHH! ***runs around in circles and holds head*** I can't please you people, no matter what! But those of you who cheered me on for the Kag/Kaka pairing, arigatou gozaimasu. Also, sorry for not updating as fast as I usually do; my big sis came for a visit and I had to do some family time. One upside of her visiting is her taking all of us to see Harry Potter 6 in the theaters.

Disclaimer: All of us escaped! Yay! But where are we? ***sees Jack Sparrow being chased by a bunch of cannibals on a beach and sweatdrops*** We're definitely _not_ in Australia anymore ***screams and runs when the cannibals start running after us*** I don't own InuYasha or Naruto!

"talking"

'_thinking_'

'**Bijuu talking to host**'

**Chapter Thirteen: Betrothal**

-o-o-o-

Kanaeru tame ni  
Ikiterundatte  
Sakebitaku naru yo  
Kikoete imasu ka?  
Bunan ni nante  
Yatterarenai kara  
…Kaeru basho mo nai no  
Yasashisa niwa itsumo kansha shiteru  
Dakara tsuyoku naritai (I'M ON THE WAY)  
Susume tame ni  
Teki mo mikata mo kangei jan

We live for each other, can you hear me starting to scream?  
Because we can't play it safe or sound anymore  
And we don't have a place to go home to  
You're always thanking me for being kind  
That's why I want to get stronger  
I'm on the way  
I'll take on both friends and enemies if it helps me move forward

~ 'Again' (Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood Opening Theme 1)  
YUI

-o-o-o-

That very same night, Gaara was sitting on top of the roof of the building where he was staying with his team. He was currently perched on the huge koi (carp) statue that was built on the roof. The wind chimes attached to the statue's tail clinked and clanged as the breeze blew them. The full moon illuminated the Suna nin's figure.

Someone walked across the roof towards him, and Gaara looked down at the person when he noticed them. It was Dosu.

Dosu stopped walking and said, "This was unexpected… Do you not sleep?"

"What do you want?" asked Gaara.

"I was thinking of defeating you right here, right now," said Dosu, "Then, I'll have a higher possibility of fighting Sasuke-kun. I know of your suna attacks. Which do you think is faster? Your suna or my oto?"

He lifted up his arm and pulled down his sleeve, revealing the metal contraption with holes. Gaara narrowed his eyes. For a few seconds, there was silence, except for the ringing of the wind chimes.

Then Gaara said, "When there is a full moon… When there is a full moon, _his_ blood gets excited."

Shadowy tendrils resembling tentacles began to rise up from Gaara's form. Dosu's eyes widened. The shadow of the tendrils fell over Dosu.

"Nan da… What are you…?" he asked, freaked out.

The tendrils hit the roof and shot towards him with the speed of a bullet train. He screamed as the thing, whatever it was, hit him and sent him flying and instantly killed him. Dust and debris flew everywhere. When some of it finally cleared, it revealed a panting Gaara kneeling on the roof.

-o-o-o-

Kagome woke with a gasp. She lay gasping for air for a few minutes, and then what woke her made its presence known.

'**Get up.**'

'_Not you, again. Do you have any idea what time it is?_' Kagome asked Kawarubi, sliding a hand down her face.

'**He's on the move.**'

'_What in the world are you talking about?_'

'**The tanuki (raccoon dog) and his host are awake. We must go to them.**'

'_Just let me sleep,_' Kagome told the Bijuu, settling back against the tree.

'**GET UP!**'

The loudness and fierceness of Kawarubi's voice caught Kagome by surprise, jerking her awake again.

"Okay, okay," she said out loud.

She jumped out of the tree and made a hand seal.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" she said.

A Kage Bunshin appeared beside her.

"Keep watch," she told it.

"Roger!" said the Bunshin, saluting her.

Kagome rubbed her eyes, and then took off into the trees, following the youki trail that was spilling out from a little ways away.

-o-o-o-

Kabuto and Baki watched Gaara's display of power from the distance. When the dust finally settled down, Kabuto spoke.

"Sugoi desu ne (that was incredible). Was that his true self?"

Baki turned towards him with disbelief and said, "But was that okay? He was an Oto…"

"It's okay," said Kabuto, "We have no use for him anymore."

"I thought that he was a guinea pig to see how strong that Sasuke gaki was?"

Gekkou Hayate snuck up behind a nearby pillar, listening in on their conversation.

'_Why is he talking with a Suna…?_' he thought.

"Iie," said Kabuto, "there's no need for that anymore. I was ordered to take Sasuke-kun before, but I failed."

"What?" said Baki.

"Eh," confirmed Kabuto, "They know that I'm a spy from Oto."

"If someone finds out that you are secretly meeting me here, and they find out about our plan, the plan to destroy Konoha will be ruined!" said Baki.

From behind his pillar, Hayate's eyes widened.

"I heard that you're Orochimaru's right-hand man, yet you still come to see me like this, after they've seen your face. You're quite the fool."

Kabuto chuckled and said, "Well, more accurately, they didn't find out I showed them. I wanted to see what Konoha would do. It's not too late to take Sasuke-kun, even after seeing Konoha's reaction."

"If it looks like your people are going to fail, we will withdraw. This plan was brought to use by Oto to begin with," said Baki.

Kabuto chuckled.

"Suna will not come out into the open until the very last moment. That is Kazekage-sama's will," continued Baki.

'_Oh, my god…_' thought Hayate.

"That is fine. This is the sho (scroll) with Oto's plan," said Kabuto, handing a small scroll to Baki, "Also, please tell those three about this plan soon."

"Yes… I know."

"I will be going now," said Kabuto, turning to leave.

'_Our ally, Sunagakure, is connected with Oto? I must inform Hokage-sama of this,_' thought Hayate, starting to get up.

"And one more thing," said Kabuto, stopping, "I will clean up the mess."

Hayate gasped.

"Iie, I will do it. As a soldier from Kaze no Kuni's Sunagakure, I must lend my aid to a comrade. Besides, there's only one mouse. It will be easy," said Baki.

Hayate jumped out of there in a 'poof!', trying to get away. Unfortunately, Baki jumped up at the same time. Hayate jumped out over the roofs of Konoha in his haste to get away from the Suna nin. Baki appeared in front of him suddenly and aimed a punch at the other's head. Hayate flipped backwards and faced Baki.

"My, my, we have the Examiner here. What are you doing out here alone?" asked the Suna Jounin.

Hayate coughed and reached for the katana strapped to his back.

"Looks like we must fight," he said, starting to unsheathe it.

Baki got down into a defensive crouch. Hayate made a hand seal, while the other watched him carefully. Then Hayate totally drew out the katana and ran towards Baki, who gaped.

"Konoha Ryuu: Mikazuki no Mai (Konoha Style: Dance of the Crescent Moon)!" said Hayate, swinging the katana in an arc.

For an instant, there were three more of Hayate. Baki looked all around; the Konoha nin had vanished. Then he looked up at the moon and saw Hayate's form silhouetted by it. Hayate swung the katana over his head with a yell and struck it against Baki's shoulder. There was a small spurt of blood, and some of it got on Hayate's face. He tried to wrench out the blade, but it was stuck fast into Baki's shoulder.

He gasped and thought, '_I can't pull it out._'

"That move was the Konoha Ryuu: Mikazuki no Mai. You can use it at such a young age… This village sure has talented people," said Baki.

He grasped the katana's blade and said, "Your sword technique was excellent. But it is natural for material blades to be stopped. But a kaze no yaiba (blade of wind) cannot be stopped by anyone."

Baki held up a hand, and wind began to whip around it. Hayate gasped, realizing that he was about to die. Suddenly, some fireballs landed near both of their feet, causing both to jump back so to not catch on fire. A wall of flame erupted in front of Baki, and a stab of pain came from his shoulder as something as quick as lightning darted in and wrenched out the katana. Baki jumped back from the hot flames, his arms in front of his face to protect it. When they died down, Gekkou Hayate and his mysterious rescuer were gone. (1)

-o-o-o-

"N-nani?" said Hayate, looking around.

Everything was black. There was nothing you could call a floor or a ceiling in this place. He looked down, and saw his rescuer.

"You!" he said.

"Hai," said Kagome, wiping off his katana.

"But how…?" he said, wondering how she had saved him and how she had managed to take out his sword from Baki's shoulder.

"I was passing by and saw that you were in trouble. I used a Katon jutsu to distract the Suna nin, and then dragged you into here," explained Kagome.

She held out his katana to him, which he hesitantly took. He had been _so_ sure he was about to die back there.

"A-arigatou," he said, sheathing the sword.

"Douitashimashite (you're welcome)," said Kagome.

"What is this place?" asked Hayate, looking around.

"I call it the void. Nothing is ever the same inside of it, because it is constantly moving and changing around. And it goes on forever. You can find all sorts of goodies floating around in here," explained Kagome, snatching an ownerless floating kunai out of the air and pocketing it.

She frowned at him and said, "Careful. You're floating away. You have to imagine there's a floor in order to stay put."

Hayate looked down and saw that his feet had indeed left the 'floor'. He gave a yelp of surprise and by instinct waved his arms in the air to try and get back down. Kagome sweatdropped as she watched his efforts in trying to find solid ground. Finally, she sighed and tugged him back down to the level she was at. He landed on his butt.

"Imagine a floor," she reminded him.

"Why did you save me from the Suna nin?" asked Hayate suspiciously, standing back up cautiously.

"Because I happen to know that something's going on within this city that has all the top shinobi running about like frightened rabbits. I think this is a nice village, so it would be a pity if a war destroyed it all. Plus, you seem like a nice guy. How are your lungs feeling?" asked Kagome.

"Huh? Well, they are feeling better, and I can breathe easier…" said Hayate, putting a hand on his chest and looking down at it.

"Yoshi! Just to warn you, in order for them to stop producing more phlegm, you're going to have to cough the remaining stuff out. So, about tomorrowish, you're going to have a nasty coughing fit that's going to help you do that," said Kagome.

Hayate just stared.

"Where was it that you were headed before _he_ caught up with you?" asked Kagome.

"Ano…the Hokage's office," said Hayate.

Kagome made a hand seal and smiled, saying, "Done!"

Before he knew it, she was shoving him out of the blackness and appeared quite suddenly in the middle of the Hokage's office. Hayate sat on his butt, looking around. The two ANBU talking to the Hokage appeared behind him, but they gaped at him behind their masks. The Hokage raised an eyebrow.

"Well, Hayate-kun, what brings you here so late and so unexpectedly?" he asked, breathing out some smoke.

-o-o-o-

'_Why did you make me come back here? This is where I rescued Hayate-san. What if that other guy saw me?_' grumped Kagome, walking along a street with her hands in her pockets.

'**He didn't**.'

'_How do you know?_' Kagome asked Kawarubi.

There was a moment of silence.

Then the Bijuu said, '**He's here somewhere. Up on a roof.**'

'_Who?_'

'**The tanuki, koinu (pup),**' said Kawarubi, rolling her eyes inside her sealed cage.

'_Can we go now? I don't really want to meet up with him,_' Kagome said.

'**Why not? He seems to be a suitable mate,**' whined Kawarubi.

'_I thought you wanted to fight him to test that,_' Kagome muttered to the youkai, '_Besides, I don't want a boyfriend or anything like that. What is it with you and "mates"?'_

'**He is near (2). He is watching us.**'

'_Good. That's my cue to _leave_,_' said Kagome, quickening her pace.

-o-o-o-

'**She has come to us. She has answered our call.**'

'_The girl called Kagome, Kaa-san?_' Gaara asked the tanuki.

'**Hai. She is below us on the street. Take her. Produce strong cubs (3).**'

'_Cubs? You said that she would be my partner,_' Gaara reminded it.

'**Hai. A partner, as in a mate,**' said 'Kaa-san', as if it had been obvious.

"Nani…?" rasped Gaara angrily, clutching his head.

'**Why so angry? You are attracted to her, are you not? I just gave you the initiative to pursue her, is all.**'

Gaara frowned; it was true. He _was_ attracted to her. He rarely gave any thought to anyone but himself. Yet here was a girl that he constantly thought about. He was frustrated and puzzled why he did it, but he continued to do it, nonetheless.

Slowly, he walked over to the side of the roof and looked below. There she was, just walking by and taking her fine time. It looked almost like she was having a silent conversation with herself. Then she started to walk faster. Taking this as his cue, Gaara made a hand seal and disappeared into a ball of sand.

-o-o-o-

Kagome froze when she heard the rustle of sand behind her. She didn't move, but her eyes were wide. She couldn't help remembering what the sand had done to Rock Lee.

'_Is he going to kill me?_' she thought as her heart raced.

She nearly jumped six feet in the air when she felt something brush her legs. Looking down, she saw that it was sand, just harmlessly caressing them. But it smelled like blood.

Then she felt his youki, which was unusually high that night for some reason. Her heart jolted, and the moisture in the air around her began to freeze and turn into snowflakes. They swirled around her.

'_Nani? _That's_ never happened before,_' thought Kagome.

A stab of pain went through her body, and the seal on her back began to burn again. Kagome felt her canines enlarge and her nails grow into claws.

'_What's happening to me?_' she thought.

Slowly, she turned to face Gaara. He narrowed his eyes at her now-pale blue ones, which were feral, and her canine teeth. He saw her claws and watched the snowflakes dance around her. And realization dawned on him.

"Sou ka… You are just like me…" he said, taking a step towards her.

"What do you want?" asked Kagome, taking a step back.

Gaara said nothing, but continued to advance on her. Kagome took as many steps back as he did forward, her chest heaving with fear. And then her back hit a wall. She froze again and looked around. She had backed herself into a corner. Kagome looked back at Gaara, but he was still advancing. Awaiting the end, Kagome squeezed her eyes shut and cringed away.

Stopping in front of her, Gaara studied her. She was petite and lean, almost too skinny. She obviously trained a lot, because her arms were toned with lean muscles and were also decently tanned from being outdoors. Her hair was short, but her highlights shone in the moonlight. The silvery ends practically glowed in its light. And her eyes… They had glowed, as well.

Gaara reached out a hand, but withdrew it. He hadn't had many opportunities to touch someone before. His sand always prevented people from touching him, and also prevented him from touching people. But 'Kaa-san' said they were to have 'cubs', so surely physical contact would be allowed? Slowly, he touched her hair. No sand flew up.

With more confidence, he stroked her hair, almost as if he were petting her. Kagome wondered what in the world he was doing and why he hadn't killed her already. Gaara marveled at how soft her hair was. He put both of his hands in it and tangled his fingers into it. It was very fine and silken, and rustled between his fingers. Even from here, he could smell its scent. It smelled like it did when it rained and something sweeter, like roses or maybe honeysuckle.

A glimpse of a pale sliver of skin behind her bangs caught his eye. Slowly, he tucked her bangs behind her ear and studied the scar on the side of her face. It had been a clean cut, whatever had made it. Probably a kunai or a shuriken. He put his finger on it and traced it down to where it met her neck; its texture was ropy.

"Why do you hide it?" asked Gaara.

Kagome cracked open an eye and stammered, "N-nani?"

"Your kizu (scar). Why do you hide it? Are you ashamed of it?" asked Gaara.

"P-people stare if I have it u-uncovered," said Kagome, squeezing her eye shut again.

Gaara frowned; she seemed very self-conscious about whether people looked at her or not.

"Wear your hair with it uncovered," he commanded, turning and walking away from her.

"Doushite?" asked Kagome, opening her eyes.

"Because I said so," said Gaara, turning his head and narrowing his eyes at her.

Kagome was still too shaken to feel angry. She watched as Gaara made a hand seal and turned into a swirling ball of sand. The sand disappeared, and Kagome heard it reappear on the roof above her. She looked up and saw Gaara's form appear out of the disappearing sands. He stood and stared down at her with his teal eyes, his arms folded across his chest.

Feeling her canines and claws return to normal, Kagome breathed out. Her seal had stopped burning, as well. She supposed her eyes had returned to their normal sapphire blue. Snowflakes no longer floated around her, and she wondered how she had called them into being in the first place. But she continued to look up at Gaara; who continued to stare down at her in his emotionless way.

It was starting to unnerve her when he didn't even blink. She decided now was a good time to make a getaway, so she took off running back the way she had come. Gaara watched after her, listening to the sounds of her sandals after she herself was lost from view.

'**Baka kouzo. You didn't do anything,**' said 'Kaa-san'.

"Wrong," said Gaara out loud.

He sensed confusion from the tanuki.

"I told her to wear her hair away from her face. She will wonder why and come back in order to find out," he explained.

'**You will not have cubs unless you-**"

'_Baka. We're both too young to conceive cubs. If she were to get pregnant, it would probably strain her body tremendously,_' said Gaara.

'_**You**_** actually care for her welfare?**' asked 'Kaa-san' skeptically.

Gaara said nothing, and just let the wind blow through his red hair.

-o-o-o-

By the time Kagome had gotten back to her tree and dispelled the Kage Bunshin, she was really pissed off. She leaned against the trunk of the tree and fumed silently.

'_How dare that damn tanuki try and tell _me_ what to do! Nobody _ever_ tells me what to do!_' she thought, clenching her fists.

Then she smirked and said to no one in particular, "I'm not going to listen to you. What will you do when you see I haven't obeyed you, _Gaara_?"

-o-o-o-

"…And that's all I have to report," said Hayate.

He was sitting in a chair in front of the Hokage's desk, and the two ANBU members flanked his two sides.

"Sou ka," said the Hokage quietly.

He was silent, puffing on his pipe all the while. Smoke rings began to collect on the ceiling as the Hokage still remained silent.

"Ano…what are you going to do about it, Hokage-sama?" asked Hayate hesitantly.

"Nothing," said the Sandaime.

"Nani?" said the three other occupants of the room.

"I will do nothing, and we will let this play itself out."

"But the lives of the villagers are in danger!" said one of ANBU.

"That is what our shinobi are for, isn't it? Besides, Orochimaru is mostly likely focusing on the shinobi of Konoha, not the villagers. The villagers pose no threat to him. We will let this play out, and do what we can from there. We will continue our plans with the Chuunin exam, and continue to invite the daimyou and shinobi leaders here to watch. That is all," said the Hokage.

Hayate nodded, accepting this.

"Who did you say rescued you, Hayate-kun?" asked the Hokage.

"Ano… Higurashi Kagome, Hokage-sama," said Hayate.

"Sou ka! What an interesting girl! I noticed that you aren't coughing as much, either. Perhaps she did something when she touched you after her match was over," said the Hokage, his eyes twinkling.

"You noticed that? She said she cured me, but it would take a couple days for it to clear out of my system," said Hayate.

"A girl that can heal without using makimono… Tsunade would be intrigued, if she were here," mused the Hokage.

He remained in a contemplative silence for a few seconds, while Hayate waited for him to speak again.

"You may go, Hayate. Arigatou for the report," said the Sandaime after a minute, looking at his subordinate.

"Hai!" said Hayate, and was about to poof away.

"And Hayate-kun?"

"Hai?"

"Make sure you have at least one person with you at all times. That Suna nin may try and come after you again. If possible, stay out of sight," ordered the Hokage.

"Hai!" said Hayate, bowing and poofing away.

The ANBU looked at each other, and the Hokage chuckled.

"If that Higurashi Kagome didn't need to train for the exam, I would ask her to guard him myself," he said.

-o-o-o-

Neji was heading to his favorite training ground. It was early morning, so early that the sun was just peeking over the horizon. Neji liked it that way so that he got as much training as he possibly could into a day. He liked to train by himself before Gai-sensei, Tenten, and Lee got there. Lee…

The Hyuuga boy felt a stab of pity and then pushed it aside. Lee had gotten himself into that mess. It wasn't anybody else's fault. Well, except that redheaded Suna nin, Gaara.

He nearly jumped a foot in the air when a soft snore came from the tree above him. Taking out a kunai, he whirled around and looked upwards. He narrowed his eyes. It was _her_. Higurashi Kagome.

Neji edged closer, and saw that she was sprawled out in branches of the tree. He wrinkled his nose in disgust when he saw a bit of drool coming out of the corner of her mouth. He had allowed _this_ person to punch him and then _slap_ him? She was nothing more than a pitiful, ill-mannered girl!

Throwing the kunai, Neji said, "Wake up."

The kunai landed near the girl's head with a 'thunk!', causing her eyes to shoot open. She sat up quite suddenly, and in doing so, lost her balance.

"Whaa!" she said, falling out of the tree with her arms flailing in the air.

She landed flat on her back, her breath knocked out of her with a 'whoosh!' of air. Gasping for breath, she looked up angrily.

"Nani? What was that– Oh, it's you," she said, looking up at him blankly.

"Oh, it's me. So, did your teammates kick you out because you snore too loudly?" mocked Neji.

"I do NOT snore!" shouted the girl on the ground.

"Sure sounded like it to me," said Neji.

"If I didn't have orders not to, I'd beat you up right now," said Kagome, glaring at him.

This struck Neji as being slightly odd.

"Whose orders?" he asked.

"Like I'm going to tell you!"

"On _my_ orders," said a voice in the trees behind Neji.

Neji looked up, and saw…Kagome. He looked back and forth between her and the other her that was lying on the ground. The Kagome in the trees smirked from where she was sitting in a tree, her elbows sitting loosely on her knees with her hands drooping down, though one of them held a red apple. The Kagome on the ground grinned and simply disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"You pulled a Kage Bunshin on me," he stated angrily.

"Not quite a Kage Bunshin. I tweaked with mine a bit to give them different personalities than mine. It comes in handy, especially with pranks. For example, I left my laziest one on guard. She always drools and snores when she falls asleep on the job. I don't do that."

"Do you like the sound of your voice?" asked Neji with irritation.

The real Kagome (4) grinned, as well, as she took a bite out of her apple. She chewed and swallowed.

"Well, ohayou gozaimasu to you too, _slug boy_," she said, emphasizing the ending teasingly.

"You know my name. Use it," said Neji.

"Now why should I do that? After all, you nearly killed Hinata-chan," said Kagome, slowly turning serious.

"'Hinata-chan'. Since when were you, a foreign ninja and an nuisance to boot, such a good friend with Hinata-sama?" asked Neji.

Kagome said nothing; his attitude was really starting to piss her off.

"Sou ka," said Neji, turning away, "In that case, go mind your own business, you filthy commoner."

Kagome snapped; she took out five kunai and threw them at him, all heading for various vital organs. Neji turned just in time to deflect three and dodge two.

"You finally attacked me with actual weapons," he said.

"No shit, Sherlock!" Kagome snarled.

Her blood was racing; she wanted to pound Neji into the ground. She hated it when people talked to her like Hyuuga Neji did. It made her angry, very angry. And when she was very angry, Kawarubi woke up.

"You dare speak to me in such a manner?"

"You're asking to get your ass kicked. Would you like me to oblige?" asked Kagome, smiling with an eyebrow twitching.

"Please do. I bet you'll never be able to touch me," sneered Neji.

"I punched and slapped you back in the preliminary rounds!" Kagome pointed out.

"I was angry, and not thinking straight. There's no way you could move that fast," said Neji.

"Sou ka?" whispered a voice in Neji's ear.

He froze; Kagome was no longer on her branch in the tree. He hadn't even seen her disappear! He took out a kunai and whirled around, but again, there was no one there. Laughter broke out behind him, and Neji, gritting his teeth, turned back around. She was back on her branch, grinning at him.

"That's impossi–!" gasped Neji, when a voice called through the trees.

"Neji! Where are you?" called Tenten's voice.

Seconds later, Tenten walked out from the depths of the forest. She looked at him, puzzled.

"Were you talking to someone? I heard your voice," she said.

Neji looked up and saw that Kagome was no longer in the tree. He glanced back in the tree where her Bunshin had been sleeping, and saw that her belongings were gone, as well. How she had retrieved everything so fast was beyond him.

"Iie. I was just talking to myself," said Neji, turning away from Tenten.

"You sure? I heard another voice," said Tenten.

"You must have been imagining things, Tenten," said Neji.

Tenten frowned at his retreating back. She looked at the five kunai that were embedded in the ground and in the tree trunks beyond where Neji had been standing.

Had Neji been attacked?

Cautiously, Tenten followed the Hyuuga to their training ground. Neither of them noticed the blurred figure that darted in behind them, snatched up the kunai, and promptly vanished again.

-o-o-o-

"Oh, InuYasha? You're back?" said Miroku, looking up in surprise when he saw his teammate walk into the room.

"Un, would you believe it? I thought they'd keep me another week, at the least!" said InuYasha stretching his arms over his head.

'_They probably got tired of hearing you complaining,_' thought Miroku.

"Maa, it's good to have you back, segare (my son)," said Touga, smiling.

"Yeah, yeah," mumbled InuYasha.

He looked around and said, "So, who am I up against at this tournament thingy?"

There was a moment of silence.

Finally, Miroku turned to Touga and said, "You didn't tell him?"

Touga gave a nervous laugh and said, "Well, you know, he was in recovery. I didn't want to upset him or excite him."

"C'mon, jii-san. Who am I up against? It's not the gaki, is it?" asked InuYasha, turning pale.

"It's me," said Miroku.

Another moment of silence. InuYasha looked blankly at Miroku, not comprehending. And then, he burst out laughing.

"You? Of all the people I could have been up against, I have to fight against _you_?" InuYasha laughed.

"Ha ha. Very funny," said Miroku sarcastically.

Miroku's eyebrow began to twitch when InuYasha finally fell to the floor and began rolling around on it. Tears streamed from InuYasha's eyes as he continued to laugh his lungs out.

"That's…" panted InuYasha, "got to be…the lamest thing…ever! Kami…my sides hurt!"

"I'll make them hurt even more unless you shut up," Miroku said.

This caused InuYasha to go off on another laughing fit. Everyone watched disbelievingly.

"What a baka," said Shippou, who was eating onigiri (rice balls).

Touran and Shuuran nodded in agreement. Sesshoumaru didn't say anything; he was sitting against the wall, impassive as ever. Touga looked like he was trying not to laugh at the expression on Miroku's face.

"Are you done yet?" asked Miroku, his fists clenched.

InuYasha didn't answer; he continued to laugh, even though his face showed he was in pain.

"Look, it's Kagome-sama! And boy, does she look angry!" said Miroku, hoping it would work.

InuYasha instantly stopped laughing, and his face became scared.

"Where?" he asked timidly, looking around cautiously.

Snorts of laughter came from around the room, and InuYasha realized what had happened.

"Why you-!" he began, trying to get up to go after his teammate.

A knock came on the shoji door. Everyone became quiet. Touran got up and cautiously went over to the door. She slid it open a crack and peered out. She grunted in surprise when she came face-to-face with a man with pale eyes.

"Hai?" she said, recovering.

"I was asked to deliver this message from Hyuuga Hiashi-sama," the man held up a small scroll, "to the sensei of Higurashi Kagome. Is this the correct room?"

"Hai, it is. I can take the makimono to him now. Arigatou, for your time," said Touran, and the man gave the scroll to her before bowing and leaving.

Touran slid the door closed. She turned around with the scroll in her hand.

"May I see it, Touran?" asked Touga.

"H-hai," said his guard, and handed it over to him.

"The makimono was addressed to me, chichi-ue," said Sesshoumaru.

"I am also your elder and, as you said, your chichi-ue," said Touga, shooting his son a warning look.

Sesshoumaru refrained from rolling his eyes. Touga unrolled the scroll and read it. Then he read it again. Everyone watched expectantly. Finally, Touga sighed, and rolled up the scroll. He handed it to Sesshoumaru, who unrolled it again and read it. After reading it, he looked up.

"Do you want me to go, chichi-ue?" asked Sesshoumaru.

"Iie. Hyuuga Hiashi didn't know that I was here, which is how I wanted it. But this matter will be handled better if I go instead. I am her otou-san, after all. You continue to train Miroku," said Touga.

"What about me?" came InuYasha's voice, but everyone ignored him.

"I should leave now. Best not keep a clan head waiting, ne?" said Touga, turning and winking at Miroku.

Touran and Shuuran snapped to attention and were about to follow their Tsukikage. Touga noticed this.

"Touran, for now, you will help InuYasha with his training, but only for a little while. Once I'm done with this business, I will relieve you of your duty. Shuuran, take Shippou with you. I'm sure you haven't bought enough souvenirs to please Shunran, yet," ordered Touga.

"Hai!" said the Yamaneko siblings.

Touga smiled and slid open the shoji door. Then he stepped out into the hall, slid the door closed again, and walked away. Once his footsteps had faded, InuYasha jumped up and ran over to Sesshoumaru, his hand reaching for the scroll. Sesshoumaru simply turned away and tucked the scroll into his Jounin vest.

"Aww! What'd you do that for!" growled InuYasha.

"The contents of this makimono are none of your business," replied Sesshoumaru.

"It has something to do with Kagome-nee-chan, doesn't it?" asked Shippou.

"Perhaps," answered Sesshoumaru; even _he_ couldn't stand being mean to Shippou, but InuYasha was a different matter.

"Is it hai or iie, Teme-sama?" asked InuYasha.

"I am not obligated to answer that," said Sesshoumaru.

"Keh."

-o-o-o-

Naruto and Jiraiya were standing by the same river Naruto had walked on the day before. Jiraiya was squatting at Naruto's level.

"Do you remember the two different kinds of chakra I talked to you about yesterday?" asked the Sannin.

"Huh? Yesterday?" said Naruto.

"You were talking about your aoi (blue) and akai (red) chakra, remember?"

"Oh, yeah," said Naruto, "What about it?"

"When you gained enormous power, you said that you felt akai chakra, right?" asked Jiraiya.

"Un, it felt like that."

"Try and mold some of that akai chakra now," ordered Jiraiya.

"Huh?" said Naruto, putting a finger on his cheek uncertainly, "Even if you tell me to, I don't think… But I can try."

He made a hand seal, and blue chakra began to glow around him. Then it faded away after a few seconds.

"Well?" asked Jiraiya.

"No, it's different. It was my usual chakra," said Naruto, turning to his new sensei.

"Taku!" exclaimed Jiraiya, "you have no talent at all!"

"Don't act so bossy!" yelled Naruto, "I'm not really sure about the two chakra thing anyway!"

"Just keep trying," ordered Jiraiya firmly and dangerously.

Naruto stopped yelling and looked at Jiraiya with surprise. Then he sullenly made the same hand seal as before. There was silence as Naruto tried to summon up the red chakra again.

Jiraiya blinked and thought, '_Hn. He doesn't really know about them too well, ka? Looks like Naruto doesn't realize that the akai chakra is the chakra of Kyuubi. From his story, I can conclude that danger and intense emotions are the keys to calling upon the chakra of Kyuubi._'

Naruto sighed and slouched, saying, "It's not working at all. I can only mold my normal chakra. Ne, Ero Sennin? How are the akai chakra and the move you're about to teach me related to each other?"

"Listen up, bouzu," said Jiraiya.

He got up and pointed directly into Naruto's face.

"The move I'm about to teach you can't be used with your current amount of chakra," he said, and poked Naruto in the middle of his forehead, "So, you need to be able to call up the humongous chakra sleeping within you at any time, and be able to use it."

"But how do you know that such chakra lies within me, Ero Sennin?" asked Naruto.

"Ohh! Thank you asking! That's because…I'm a Sennin!"

Naruto nearly fell over, and then sighed and said, "That didn't answer anything."

"Anyway, the special chakra that only you have will become your best weapon," explained Jiraiya.

"Special weapon?" repeated Naruto.

Jiraiya grabbed Naruto's cheeks and began stretching them all over the place. Naruto made a sound of protest when he did this.

"If you don't use it, it will just go to waste," said Jiraiya, still stretching Naruto's cheeks, "And there will be no need to do the same training as everyone else. Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses. You have your own style. The training you have done consisted of maintaining a constant amount of chakra, and releasing a constant amount. In other words, that was training to control your chakra so that you wouldn't run out of stamina. But since you have a lot of stamina, you should concentrate on power instead of conserving stamina."

Finally, he let go of Naruto's cheeks and squatted back down. Naruto rubbed his poor cheeks.

"You have two chakra, and you do not get exhausted easily, so you should do training where you release as much chakra as you can, and increase your maximum chakra capacity. There are many jutsu and moves you can use by doing so," said Jiraiya, smirking.

"Like what, for example?" asked Naruto, still holding his cheeks.

"For example, the move I am about to teach you," said Jiraiya, looking around and spotting a small frog sitting on a rock in the river, "the Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Summoning Technique)."

-o-o-o-

"Please wait in here. Hiashi-sama will be notified of your arrival," said a pale-eyed servant.

"Arigatou," said Touga, and the servant bowed and left.

Touga looked around the room. It was a tearoom, complete with a low table and two cushions to kneel on. The walls were bare, but were comfy instead of making one feel like the room was empty. There were shoji doors in three of the walls. One was the one that he had entered through; there was another across from him, and another to his left, presumably leading to a porch and then a courtyard.

He decided to take a seat, and kneeled beside the table. It was bare, so he guessed tea would be served after the master of the house entered the room.

Touga nearly laughed humorlessly to himself.

'_Every single person I've seen in this house has the same features: pale eyes, pale skin, and dark hair. I guess they don't trust outsiders that much. _And_ they've taken inbreeding to the maximum,_' thought Touga, sweatdropping slightly.

He looked up when he heard the door opposite of him slide open. A tall man with long dark hair that was closely cut at the temples entered. Touga stood up, guessing that this was Hyuuga Hiashi.

"You are the sensei of Higurashi Kagome?" asked the man.

"Iie," said Touga, making the other man grunt in surprise and narrow his eyes (5).

Touga looked the man directly in his pupil-less eyes and said, "I'm her chichi (father), by adoption. I figured you would want to speak to me, instead of my son, who is her sensei."

"Very well. Boku wa Hyuuga Hiashi desu (I am Hyuuga Hiashi), the head of this clan," said Hiashi, bowing.

"Douzo yoroshiku (nice to meet you). Boku wa Taishou Touga, the head of my clan and Tsukikage of Tsukigakure," said Touga, bowing, as well.

The title of 'Tsukikage' didn't seem to faze Hiashi at all. Instead, he gestured at the table.

"Please have a seat. Perhaps you would like some tea?" asked Hiashi.

"Hai. Very much," said Touga, kneeling down on his cushion.

Hiashi snapped his fingers, and the sound of footsteps came from outside the door. Touga guessed that Hiashi had had a servant waiting, because one came in with a tray. The servant set down the tray, which consisted of a teapot and two small cups, bowed and left the room. Hiashi picked up the teapot, poured tea into both cups, and picked up his own. Touga took this as his cue to pick up the remaining cup.

"Banzai (cheers)," said Hiashi, before taking a sip out of his cup.

"Banzai," repeated Touga, and drank some of his tea, as well.

Hiashi swirled his tea around in his cup.

"I had invited you here, or rather your son, on delicate matters, Taishou-sama. It was fortunate you were here. That way, the process is shorter," said Hiashi.

'_Get on with it,_' thought Touga.

"Tell me, Taishou-sama, of your daughter's skills. Outside of being a shinobi, that is," said Hiashi.

"Well, she knows how to read and write. She also knows how to write in calligraphy. She knows how to do the tea ceremony; she knows the proper manners of a noble's daughter. She knows how to dance, how to cook, and is well learned in military tactics. She knows how to play an instrument, and she is also very good with children," said Touga.

"You have covered all the basics, then?" asked Hiashi.

"Hai, Hyuuga-sama," said Touga.

"Is she also fertile? Or has she not started yet?" asked Hiashi.

'_What a brazen thing to ask. I'm glad Kagome isn't here; she'd be blushing to the roots of her hair,_' thought Touga.

"She's been having her period regularly for over a year," said Touga, and he had a sick satisfaction at seeing Hiashi's eyebrow twitch at the word 'period'.

"How old is she?" asked Hiashi, and Touga suddenly felt like he was in a doctor's office being asked his family's medical history.

"She's thirteen."

"Sou? She's a little on the small side," commented Hiashi.

'_Don't let her hear you saying that,_' thought Touga.

"Hai, she's just a late bloomer. In another year or so, she'll catch up with the other girls," assured Touga.

"Hm."

"Have you met Kagome yet? You talk as if you have," asked Touga curiously.

"I ran into her yesterday morning on the street," said Hiashi vaguely.

'_A clan head does not walk out in broad daylight among the "common" people often. He must have heard the rumors and gone looking for her,_' thought Touga, disliking Hiashi even more.

"I have a nephew…" began Hiashi.

'_Here it comes,_' thought Touga.

"…named Neji. He is the son of my late brother, and is a member of my clan's branch house. He is also your daughter's age," said Hiashi.

"Hyuuga-sama, I know what you asked me here for. And I cannot place such a burden on my daughter," said Touga slowly.

"You do not wish for a betrothal?" asked Hiashi, sounding like he couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"Iie. I have four children, Hyuuga-sama, and two of them are adopted. But Kagome is my only daughter. She is not spoiled, and the only thing she wants in life is to get stronger and be renown and acknowledged in the shinobi nations. Having her betrothed to someone she doesn't know would anger her greatly. And then it would crush her and her goal. That is why I cannot do this," explained Touga.

He stood and bowed.

"Sumimasen, for wasting your time, Hyuuga-sama. But if you want my Kagome to marry your Neji, he will have to woo her on his own. That is all have to say on the matter," he said, before turning and sliding open the door behind him.

Before closing it, he bowed again.

"Sumimasen," he said, and still bowing, slid the door closed.

He stood up straight and began walking away as fast as he could.

'_That guy is going hate me forever,_' he thought, sweatdropping.

-o-o-o-

Hiashi was furious. The plan to betroth Higurashi Kagome to Hyuuga Neji had ended in a complete failure. And it was all because Taishou Touga loved his daughter – who wasn't even related to him by blood – too much. It made him sick, but he couldn't do anything about his predicament. All the other options he had left were to do something illegal, or let things flow on their natural course and hope that Neji and Kagome fell in love with each other.

He wanted to throttle the girl's father. But the man had said he was a Kage, so to kill him would start a war with his country. He badly wanted to force a betrothal between Neji and Higurashi Kagome, but to do it without the consent of the father was illegal. The girl had noble blood, and if she married Neji and had children, she would be putting fresh genes into the Hyuuga family's gene pool. Kami knew that the clan needed it.

-o-o-o-

Kagome was standing in the middle of a training field that she had picked out. She was panting, and beads of sweat were rolling down her face. Nearby stood two of her 'modified' Kage Bunshin. One looked really irritated, while the other was nervously shifting from foot to foot.

"Hora, hora! Don't just stand there! Get back to work! Kikyou uses Fuuton, and fire is strong against them!" said the irritated Bunshin.

"Urusai, you slave driver," muttered Kagome.

She got into a defensive pose and began making hand seals, ending with a 'Tora' seal, which was the ending of a fire jutsu. Then she opened her mouth and began spitting out a huge fireball that turned into a wall of fire. As more of it came out, she slowly and steadily added reiki to it, which made it go higher and turn a different color. Slowly, the fire turned lighter, going from orange-red to bright gold.

'_Yatta! I have it!_' thought Kagome.

And then the golden wall of fire exploded, sending her flying backwards. The nervous-looking Kage Bunshin immediately reacted, making the hand seals for a Suiton (Water Release) jutsu. Taking moisture out of the air, she poured a waterspout on the flames that had caught the grass on fire. The irritated Bunshin went over to Kagome and tugged her up by the elbow.

"You got confident! You added too much reiki!" said the Bunshin angrily.

"I know that!" snapped Kagome, brushing herself off.

Luckily, she had escaped with only singed hair and clothing. She sighed and sat back down.

"What are you doing! Get up!" said the irritated Bunshin.

"Urusai! I'm thinking! Leave me alone for a few minutes!" yelled Kagome.

The Bunshin shut up, and gave Kagome some space.

'_I've been working on this jutsu for two years now, and that's the closest I've gotten to what I want,_' thought Kagome, '_But even if I finally figure out the correct formula of chakra and reiki, I need to have Kage Bunshin help me. And one of them can make a mistake, even if the ones that I'll use are real Bunshin, and not the ones I've tampered with. The fire isn't doing what I want it to, either. I need it to swirl, so that it will surround and close in on whoever is trapped within the flames. This jutsu will take a lot out of me when I finally get it to work correctly, so it'll have to be an ace card that I've hidden up my sleeve. I don't even know if I'll perfect it by the time the Third Exam rolls around. I promised myself that I would, but I might have to break that promise…_'

Kagome sat and thought some more, and realized what she could use in order to make her fire swirl the way she wanted it to.

"I need a fan," she said thoughtfully, putting a finger on her bottom lip and looking up at the sky.

The two Kage Bunshin gave each other confused looks, and then shrugged.

-o-o-o-

"Tsukikage-sama!" said Touran in surprise, seeing her country's leader come walking towards her.

"How is InuYasha doing, Touran?" asked Touga.

Touran looked down at InuYasha's twitching and smoking form and sweatdropped.

"Could have been better. It's not my fault that he's such a baka," muttered Touran.

"What was that?" asked Touga cheerfully.

"N-nothing!" said Touran, jumping and waving her hands in front of her.

"Maa, InuYasha, my boy. You need to train a lot more if you're going to catch up with Miroku and Kagome," said Touga, squatting down next to his son.

"What the hell do you mean? I'm stronger than Miroku!" InuYasha managed to say.

"Iie, that's where you're wrong. You are lacking in a lot of things. Speed. Planning. Looking before you leap," said Touga seriously.

"I already-!"

"Iie, you're not. Touran, I'll take over from here. Until the tournament, _I_ will be InuYasha's sensei," said Touga.

InuYasha became noticeably pale.

-o-o-o-

A shopkeeper was becoming increasingly irritated. This girl had been in here for over an hour, looking over fans!

"Listen, oku-san (young lady), are you going to buy something or not?" asked the shopkeeper.

"Patience! You have to be very patient when picking out a weapon," said Kagome, shooting him an angry look.

"Nani?" shouting the shopkeeper, "You're going to use one of my beautiful fans to fight! That simply won't do! They're delicate; they're made for decoration!"

"I'm going to shield it, you dummy. If you treat all customers this way, then I'll just leave-"

"IIE!" shouted the panicked shopkeeper; he wasn't about to admit that Kagome was the first customer he'd had in a while.

To make up for his outburst, the shopkeeper said, "Onegai, stay! You can pick whichever one you want!"

Kagome rolled her eyes and continued to look through the fans. She didn't focus on the designs on them, but rather the fabric they were made out of and how big they were. It was frustrating that the big ones seemed to have thinner material than the smaller ones. The handles that held them together were also of crappy wood.

She moved onto the next fan, and instantly fell in love with it. The wooden handle was durable, and made out of pine. It was larger, nearly half her height, and made out of thick, stretchy fabric. The design on it wasn't that bad either; the design consisted of decorative koi, different on both sides.

"It's perfect…" said Kagome breathlessly, looking over it for at least one flaw; she didn't find one.

She dashed over to the counter and said, excitedly, "I'll take this one, please!"

The shopkeeper was a little unnerved by the manic gleam in her eye, so he wanted her out of his shop as quickly as he could.

"Hai! That's a good choice. Now, that will be fifty ryou," said the shopkeeper.

"I beg your pardon?" asked Kagome, wondering if her ears had heard right.

"Fifty ryou, oku-san," repeated the shopkeeper, rubbing his hands together in a conniving manner.

"I'm being robbed," muttered Kagome irritably, pulling her wallet out and taking the correct number of bills out of it.

"Here, you cheapskate," she said angrily, plopping the bills in his outstretched palm.

"Arigatou, oku-san!" said the shopkeeper, looking through the bills to make sure she had paid the right amount.

"Whatever, cheapskate," said Kagome, putting her wallet back in her pocket.

She stomped over to the door and pulled it open.

"You money thief! Do you always make it a habit to rob people blind?" she asked, as she pulled open the door.

"Arigatou! Itterasshai (Have a good day)!" said the storekeeper absentmindedly.

Kagome huffed and went out the door. The storekeeper sighed to himself; it wasn't easy owning the store that you worked during the day. With the money he had swindled out of that girl, he would be able to have a good meal this night.

-o-o-o-

"I still have to buy a rope that will secure this fan to my back. There's no way in hell I'm going back in there. Maybe I should just make the rope myself," grumbled Kagome, watching a moth fly out of her wallet.

"Talking to yourself, are you?" asked a familiar voice.

Kagome looked up, and saw Haruno Sakura standing nearby, along with a curious Yamanaka Ino.

'_I guess they're friends again,_' thought Kagome.

"Hai. I like to talk to myself. It's usually the only way I can have an intelligent conversation," said Kagome, tucking her wallet back in her pocket.

"I thought you were supposed to be training. Not shopping for souvenirs," sneered Sakura.

"This _is_ for my training. Now, if you'll excuse me…" said Kagome, trying to step around the pink-haired girl.

"Listen here, you!" said Sakura, grabbing Kagome by the front of her shirt.

"Sakura! Don't!" said Ino.

"I will repeat this one last time. _Stay away from Sasuke-kun!_ If you threaten his life again, you'll get hurt," warned Sakura.

Kagome smirked with her eyes closed.

"You know, Sakura-san, I've tried being nice to you all this time. But if you continued to be ugly with me," she opened her eyes and grabbed Sakura's wrist of the hand that was holding her with one of her own, "_I'll be ugly back._"

Sakura gasped; Kagome's eyes were now the Sharingan. Only from a distance had she seen Kagome's Sharingan. Back then, it had been intimidating. Now, it was terrifying. But Sakura managed to hold her ground; she kept a firm grip on Kagome's shirt.

"Do you want me to be ugly?" asked Kagome quietly.

She smiled sadistically and tightened her grip on Sakura's wrist. Sakura gasped in pain; it felt like Kagome was going to squeeze her hand right off, or at least break her wrist. Ino watched helplessly, her eyes wide.

Kagome scowled and jerked Sakura's hand off of her shirt.

"You're not even worth my time," she said, letting her Sharingan fade from her eyes and releasing Sakura's wrist.

She turned and began walking away. Sakura and Ino watched her, scared like little rabbits watching a fox pass their hiding spot. They froze when Kagome stopped and turned around.

Kagome smiled and said, "Good day to you."

Then she turned back around and continued on her way. Sakura and Ino watched her until she was out of sight.

"What is the matter with that girl?" asked Ino.

Sakura swallowed, but didn't say anything. She was still shaking; something was definitely wrong with that girl.

-o-o-o-

"Oi, jii-san. Where did you disappear to this morning?" asked InuYasha.

They were all sitting around the table in their quarters, eating dinner. Everybody, except Sesshoumaru, looked expectantly at Touga. Touran and Shuuran tried to make it less obvious, seeing as how Touga was their employer.

"I guess there is no harm telling, as long as you don't tell Kagome," said Touga, setting down his chopsticks.

Everyone still watched him.

"I went to the Hyuuga compound, to see the clan head about betrothing Kagome to somebody," said Touga.

Sesshoumaru looked up with a surprised expression, Shippou began choking on his udon while Touran choked on her tea, Shuuran nearly fell over, and Miroku nearly swallowed his chopsticks.

InuYasha, however, slammed his fist on the table, and said, "NANI?"

His mouth was full of rice, so he sprayed it all over the table when he yelled.

"Calm down, InuYasha," soothed Touga.

"DON'T TELL ME TO CALM DOWN! DID YOU _AGREE_ TO IT? YOU BETTER NOT TELL ME YOU DID, OR IT'S YOUR FUNERAL!" shouted InuYasha.

"InuYasha…"

"TEME! YOU DID, DIDN'T YOU? YOU HAD NO RIGHT!"

"_InuYasha…_"

"WAIT TILL KAGOME HEARS ABOUT THIS! I'LL LEAVE HER TO YOU, 'CAUSE SHE'S GOING TO RIP YOUR FRICKIN' HEAD OFF!" yelled InuYasha, so upset that he forgot to call Kagome by his usual nickname for her.

"INUYASHA! I MADE NO SUCH AGREEMENT!" bellowed Touga.

"Nani?" said InuYasha, once he had recovered from the force of Touga's voice.

"I did not agree to betrothing Kagome to anyone. Because of that, I'm probably on bad terms with the Hyuuga clan head," said Touga.

A simultaneous sigh of relief went around the table, even from Sesshoumaru. Shippou looked up at his father.

"Ne, tou-san? Do you think Kagome-nee-chan will ever get married?" he asked.

"I don't know, Shippou," said Touga.

"'Cause she never talks about guys like the other girls do. She mostly talks about weapons, jutsu, or herbs. Is there something wrong with her?" asked Shippou.

"_I'd_ say there's something wrong with her…" muttered Miroku into his tea, but Touran jabbed him in the ribs with her elbow.

"Iie, iie! She's just a little late about that stuff, is all," assured Touga.

"Ew! You mean, I'll have to go around and listen to her talk about guys and how dreamy they are?" whined Shippou, making a disgusted face.

Miroku and InuYasha made faces along with him; they couldn't even _imagine_ Kagome being that way.

"Keh, right now, she's the ideal girl. No crying, no heartbreaks, and no annoying boyfriends," said InuYasha.

Touran chuckled, causing everyone to look at her.

"Oh, I was just thinking about the guys in this village that normally get fawned over by the girls. I bet Kagome-chan has them stumped," she said, laughter in her voice.

"I'll bet," said Touga, chuckling as well.

"I think I'm going to be sick. The thought of Kagome being girly makes me want to throw up," said InuYasha, holding his stomach and pushing away his plate.

Sesshoumaru pushed away his plate as well, followed by Miroku and Shippou. Shippou made pretend throwing-up motions, as well as sounds.

"Yameru, Shippou-chan. I think he might really throw up," said Miroku, peering closely at InuYasha's face.

Shippou looked at InuYasha, who looked really sick.

'_He does look a little green,_' thought Shippou, sweatdropping, '_Does the thought of Kagome acting like a girl actually make him feel _that_ sick?_'

-o-o-o-

It was night, and Kagome was laid out in the training field she had picked out. Next to her were two of her Kage Bunshin, just regular ones.

"It's chilly tonight," commented one of the Bunshin.

"It's always chilly," said the other.

"It was warmer last night," said Kagome.

"True, true," said the second Bunshin.

Kagome stretched her hand out towards the night sky. She made grabbing motions at one of the brightest stars.

"So close, and yet so far away," she mumbled.

"The sky's really clear tonight. Especially for the largest hidden village in the shinobi nations," said Bunshin Number One.

"Un," agreed Bunshin Number Two and Kagome.

"You know, the stars are pretty, but they're also so cold," said Bunshin Number Two.

"That's because they're so far away," said Kagome.

"Do you think there are people like us out there?" asked Bunshin Number One.

"Dunno," said Kagome.

"Oh, look, the moon's coming up. We won't be able to see the stars as good, now," pouted Bunshin Number Two.

"The moon's pretty, too," said Bunshin Number One.

"I wonder if there are people there, too," said Kagome.

"That's a good one!" said Bunshin Number Two, laughing.

"I mean it!" said Kagome angrily.

"I wish I had a star that I could carry around with me," said Bunshin Number One.

"But the sun's a star. There's a lesson to be learned there; you'll get burned if you wish for something that big," said Kagome.

"Maybe not all stars are hot like the sun," said Bunshin Number One.

"You are impossible," said Bunshin Number Two.

Kagome started to laugh, causing the other two to look at her.

She laughed some more and said, "I wasn't kidding today when I said that I talked to myself."

_**Owari**_

-o-o-o-

**Omake: Dosu**

Dosu was floating around in heaven, with a halo on his head and wings on his back.

"Where am I?" he said.

"You're in heaven," said a voice, causing Dosu to jump.

He spun around, and saw – was it a girl or a boy? – with a halo and wings like him.

"My name is Haku. What is yours?" asked the boy/girl.

"Dosu," said Dosu, wondering why he had ended up in heaven of all places.

"You're probably wondering why you're here. I didn't think I'd make it, either," said a new, gruff voice.

A new person floated into view, also with a halo and wings.

"Y-you're…" said Dosu, pointing.

"Yeah, Momichi Zabuza. You said you were Dosu?"

"Un."

"So, how'd you go?" asked Zabuza.

"Some weird gaki blew me up with his suna. How about you?" asked Dosu.

"I was stabbed by a bunch of non-ninja thugs after fighting Hatake Kakashi."

"I had Hatake Kakashi's hand go right through my body. Died almost instantly."

"Wow. Small world," said Dosu. (6)

-o-o-o-

**Author's Notes**

(1) I had to save Hayate! He's one of my favorite characters! He's kinda cute, too…

(2) I had a scene appear in my head off the first episode of _Bleach_ when Rukia comes into Ichigo's room and says, "It is near." And then he attacks her… ^o^ LOL

(3) I put 'cubs' instead of 'pups' because it seemed suitable for a tanuki to have cubs instead

(4) The real McCoy. Just a random thought ^.^;

(5) Ha ha, I made it rhyme!

(6) This omake was inspired by a chibi picture made by a Naruto fan that I saw on the Internet that had Zabuza and Haku in it

-o-o-o-

Dun-dun-dun-dunnn! It is finito! Again, sorry about the slight delay. I also had a small writer's block, but I took care of it.

I bet a lot of you were shocked by the title of this chapter! WHAAT? Kagome's getting betrothed? WTF? :D LOL

Until next time! Ja ne!

By the way, the HP movie was great! ;D


	15. Chapter XIV: Training

Here's the next chapter, my lovely peoples!

Disclaimer: Bwa ha ha! We hijacked the Black Pearl! Huzzah! ***points at Elizabeth Swann*** You can walk the plank, I never liked your role in this movie, anyway ***Elizabeth walks the plank for the second time in her life***

Will Turner: Elizabeth! ***for some reason in a chipmunk's voice***

Jack Sparrow: ***puts his arm around Will's shoulders*** You're better off without her, mate

Kuroi: ***in her own little world*** But she did a pretty good job in 'Pride and Prejudice'…

Random Jail Escapee: ***nudges Kuroi*** Psst! You forgot to say something!

Kuroi: ***looks up*** Oh, yeah! I don't own InuYasha or Naruto!

"talking"

'_thinking_'

'**Bijuu talking to host**'

**Chapter Fourteen: Training**

-o-o-o-

Machi no hitogomi ni magire hitori samerta me wo shite tojiteku sono kokoro  
Yasashisa wa motomezu ni kizu tsuku dake nara  
Hito to surechigatte yuku tabi ni usureteku kimi no iro kurai yoru ni obienaide  
IT'S MELODY ushinatte shimatta kokoro no kakera atsume  
Itsuka kimi ga waraeru ni YEAH  
JUST MELODY hontou wa yasashiku mujaki na kimi no egao  
Itsumo boka ga mamotteku kara

You lose yourself in the crowd, with your cold eyes and closed heart  
If you're just going to be wounded without searching for tenderness  
Don't be afraid of the dark night as your colors fade each time you pass someone  
It's melody, gather up the lost pieces of your heart  
So that someday you can laugh again, yeah  
Just melody, you really have a gentle, innocent smile  
I'll always protect it

~ 'Just Melody'  
UVERworld

-o-o-o-

It was morning, and the Hokage was holding a meeting with the Jounin and Tokubetsu Jounin in the village. He currently had his kasa sitting on his desk.

"Some of you may have heard about this already, but Gekkou Hayate nearly lost his life the other night while trying to bring important news to me," said the Sandaime.

Several people muttered among themselves; wasn't it natural for a shinobi to be in danger?

The Hokage cleared his throat and said, "To be more specific, Hayate discovered a plot to destroy Konoha and nearly paid for it with his life."

Exclamations went up.

"A plot?" said Kurenai.

"To destroy Konoha?" said Asuma.

"There is a plot between Suna and Oto," said the Hokage, and more exclamations went up, "to destroy Konoha. But the one at the center of this plot is…Orochimaru."

"What in the world was Hayate doing?"

"Who attacked him? Was it Orochimaru?"

"How did he escape alive?" asked Anko.

"Hayate was most likely after Kabuto, an Oto spy," said Kakashi, turning to her, "But it doesn't come as a surprise that Orochimaru is the one pulling the strings. I suspected that he was trying to pull something off."

"Then," said the Tokubetsu Jounin in front of Kakashi, named Namiashi Raidou, "we must cancel the Chuunin exam, and get Orochimaru before he can launch his attack on us!"

"Iie, he revealed himself to Anko and threatened us to not cancel the exam, the Chuunin exam where all the shinobi of all our allies participate," said the Hokage.

"What do you mean?" asked one of the elders in the room, whose name was Mitokado Homura.

"Orochimaru has enough power to conquer a small country. After he left this village, I'm sure that other countries had their eyes on him. He has a grudge against Konoha… Any country would want him," said the Hokage.

"Then can it be that our allies have conspired with Orochimaru to betray Konoha?" asked Raidou.

The Hokage narrowed his eyes and Anko closed hers shakily.

"Maa," said Kakashi, looking at Raidou, "An alliance treaty is almost equivalent to a verbal agreement anyway. How do you think the Ninja War started?"

"Anyway," said the Hokage, "now that we know of this plot to conquer Konoha, we can be prepared. But it would also be good for the sake of this village to find out more. I advise you to be careful, and not act on your own."

"We have already sent ANBU members on recon missions to the different countries," said the other elder, a woman named Utatane Koharu, "It is not wise to make careless moves. There is a possibility that's what the enemy wants us to do."

"Also, I trust you all," said the Sandaime, "When the worst does happen, which should be in about a month, we will assemble all of Konoha's power and fight."

"Ano, how did Hayate manage to escape from being killed?" asked Raidou.

"Someone intervened," said the Hokage.

"Who?" asked Gai.

"A foreign Genin girl," said the Hokage, smirking a little, "named Higurashi Kagome."

More exclamations went up.

"That girl…saved Hayate?" said Kurenai, as if she couldn't believe it.

"Was she seen by Hayate's attacker? If so, she might be in danger," said another Tokubetsu Jounin, named Shiranui Genma (1).

"Higurashi Kagome is in no danger. Even if the attacker had seen her, I'm sure that she can take care of herself. If she can drop Gekkou Hayate out of nowhere into the middle of my office, then she'll be fine," said the Hokage firmly.

Nobody dared to argue with him, and some wondered what he meant by 'out of nowhere'.

'_Higurashi Kagome saved Hayate… But what was she doing out at that time? From what I heard, this happened late in the night. This has "fishy" written all over it,_' thought Kakashi.

-o-o-o-

For the umpteenth time, Kagome picked herself off of the ground, patting soot away from her clothes. She was still having trouble finding the right formula to mix reiki and chakra with, but now she at least knew around how much reiki she needed to use.

"Again," she told herself, and stood shakily to her feet.

-o-o-o-

Sakura was walking in the street, heading to the hospital to visit Sasuke, when she passed a light yellow shop. The sign over the doorway said, 'Hana Yamanaka (Yamanaka Flowers)'.

Sakura paused and said to herself, "Maybe I should bring him hana (flower(s)) when I visit."

Entering the shop, she noticed that it was cooler than it was out in the street. It also smelled heavenly.

Noticing all the flowers, she said, "Kirei (beautiful)…"

She stopped to look at some flowers in a glass case, and felt someone's eyes on her.

'_Shimatta (shoot)…_' she thought, looking up towards the cash register.

Ino was watching Sakura, with her chin in her hands and leaning on her elbows.

"Oh?" said Ino, "It's quite rare for you to come buy hana at our place."

"Not really," stuttered Sakura, "Who cares? It's rare for you to be in charge of the store, as well."

As she said this, she went over to some potted plants in the opposite direction of the glass case.

As she squatted down next to them, she thought, '_I should just pick something as quickly as possible._"

Ino leaned down next to her and said, "When you bring hana that still have a root, people complain about it growing. That's why cut hana are commonly chosen."

Sakura blushed, realizing her mistake, and said, "I don't know what you're talking about."

Ino stood up straight and said, "There's no use in playing dumb! You're planning to visit Sasuke-kun, aren't you?"

Sakura made an exasperated sound at her.

Looking to the back, Ino called, "Kaa-san! I'm going to leave for a while!"

"I-Ino!" said Sakura in protest, standing up.

"I'm not going to let you hog him! I'll go, too… To…visit…him," she said teasingly.

'_Damn Ino pig,_' thought Sakura, making an angry face.

Sakura and Ino then decided to pick which flowers they were going to take to Sasuke.

"I'll take this hana," said Ino, picking out a solitary red rose, "Ai no bara ippo (a single rose of love)."

"That's unoriginal. Then I'll take this suisen (daffodil)," said Sakura, and began speaking romantically, "An admirable hana that waits for spring as it stands valiantly against the winter cold."

'_And I'll put a wish on it so that he can get well soon,_' she thought.

"Looks like you know more about hana, now," said Ino through gritted teeth.

"I said that I wouldn't lose to you!" snapped Sakura angrily.

Ino said, "Oh… Hai, hai. So, one suisen?"

Sakura leaned down to pick up another, saying, "Oh…I'll take two."

"Nan de? One is enough," said Ino.

"Iie, I need one for Lee-san, too," said Sakura happily.

Ino grunted in surprise.

-o-o-o-

A few minutes later, both girls were on their way to the hospital. They dragged their feet, taking their time.

Suddenly, a familiar voice yelled, "Seconds!"

"Huh?' said Sakura and Ino, looking towards a shop with a sign that said 'Barbeque'.

"Ten servings of galbi (2), please!" said the voice again.

Inside, Chouji was eating barbeque at a steady rate, making various noises that indicated that the food was good. He swiped piece after piece of meat off of the grill in the center of his booth, and ate it. Asuma and Shikamaru, who were sitting across from him, stared.

"I'm surprised that you can eat so much. I'm getting sick just by watching you," said Shikamaru.

A waiter came by with a plate of raw meat and said, "Here is your order."

"Hm? Here it is!" said Chouji eagerly.

Using his chopsticks, he spread the pieces of meat onto the grill so that they would get cooked. They began to sizzle.

"This is mine!" said Chouji defensively, "Don't eat it, Shikamaru!"

"I won't," said Shikamaru.

Asuma looked sick to his stomach.

"What's with you guys? Having barbeque for lunch?" came Ino's voice through the window.

Asuma, Shikamaru, and Chouji looked out the window with grunts of surprise, and saw Sakura and Ino peering through the window.

"Ino to Sakura, ka (Ino and Sakura, eh)?" said Shikamaru.

"Shikamaru, don't you have to train for the main matches?" asked Ino (3).

"I do," said Shikamaru, "Everyday… Since Asuma here bitches at me everyday."

Asuma laughed and said, "Well, I'm having Chouji help out with his training."

"Ehh?" said Ino, turning to Chouji, "I'm surprised that you decided to help."

Chouji nodded eagerly and said, "But in exchange, they're treating me to all-you-can-eat barbeque."

"I see," said Ino sheepishly.

Shikamaru sighed and leaned back, putting his hands behind his head.

"I shouldn't have won the match," he said.

"Don't be selfish, now. There are a lot of people who want to enter, but can't," chided Asuma.

"Yeah!" said Sakura through the window.

"From what I heard," continued Asuma, "the guys under Gai and Kurenai are doing some hard training."

"W-what?" said Shikamaru, sweating slightly.

"Even if you won, it won't look good if you lose in the blink of an eye," said Asuma slyly.

Shikamaru said, "Mou (another word for 'geez')… How troublesome."

-o-o-o-

In the forest inside Konoha, many shuriken and kunai flew in the air and hit the branches of trees. Some landed at the feet of Tenten, where there were weapons already strewn across the ground. Tenten stood panting heavily.

"You've surpassed the ningen capabilities," she said to Neji, who had his back turned to her.

"I must've used up too much chakra," said Neji, before passing out in a large crater that he had made.

"Daijoubu, Neji?" cried Tenten.

-o-o-o-

In another part of the forest, Inuzuka Kiba was running full speed towards Shino, holding a kunai in his hand. Akamaru was nowhere in sight. Running opposite of him was Kurenai, with a kunai in each hand. Shino began letting loose his Kikaichuu ('Parasitic Destruction Insects') in black swarms, until they floated around him. Hinata, who had been released from the hospital, watched with worry behind a nearby tree.

-o-o-o-

Near the river, Naruto made the hand seals necessary to summon a frog.

Once he finished doing the hand seals, he slammed his right hand into the ground, saying, "Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Summoning Technique)!"

There was a momentary seal of some sort on the ground, and then a poof of smoke. When it cleared away, it revealed a wriggling orange-brown tadpole with green spots on it, shaped like tomoe.

Jiraiya yelled and said, "Another otamajakushi (tadpole)? You haven't gotten any better at all!"

In turn, Naruto yelled angrily and pointed down at the tadpole saying, "It's bigger than before!"

"I can't tell at all!" yelled Jiraiya.

-o-o-o-

"Uchiha Sasuke-san?" said a nurse at the Konoha Hospital.

She was leading Sakura and Ino down a long hallway in the hospital.

"You have five minutes. I cannot permit more than that. He still needs to stay in bed," said the nurse.

"Hai," said Sakura and Ino, showing that they understood the situation.

The nurse stopped at a door and knocked.

"Sasuke-kun, you have guests… Two kawaii girls," said the nurse, entering the room.

She froze and dropped her clipboard. Sakura and Ino grunted in surprise. Sasuke's bed was empty, though the sheets were pushed back.

"Sasuke-kun? Sasuke-kun?" said the nurse with alarm, looking around as if expecting Sasuke to pop out from a corner somewhere.

She rushed over to the wardrobe in the room and pulled open its doors. It was empty, except for a few hangers.

"His clothes are gone," said the nurse.

"Eh?" said Sakura and Ino with surprise.

"This is bad," said the nurse, "He shouldn't be walking outside in his condition!"

She ran out of the room, calling, "Sensei (doctor), sensei!"

"Sasuke-kun…" said Ino.

"Sou na (oh no)…" said Sakura.

Sakura had a flashback of Orochimaru saying, "_Sasuke-kun will seek for me."_ (4)

'_Sasuke-kun… Where did you go?_'

-o-o-o-

"InuYasha! Pay attention!" barked Touga, thumping his son on the head.

"Itai! What'd you do that for?" exclaimed InuYasha, clutching the goose egg that had started swelling up.

"You weren't paying attention! How are you supposed to defeat Miroku if you're daydreaming and staring at the clouds?" demanded Touga.

"Luck?" InuYasha guessed.

"Iie! Iie! Iie! IIE!" shouted Touga, thumping his son on the head each time he said 'iie'.

InuYasha's eyes swirled while stars circled his head. Once he had regained his sense of balance, he turned angrily towards his father.

"Why are you even bothering to train me?" he huffed, crossing his arms with irritation.

"Because I don't want to see any of my offspring get knocked flat on their ass five seconds into the tournament. Here, you see this?" asked Touga, taking out a round object.

InuYasha blinked; he had never seen anything like it before. It was about the size of a grapefruit, and the outside seemed to have paper-like texture. It was grayish, and there was a small hole in the top. InuYasha thought it looked like some sort of nest.

"Nan desu ka?" he asked, looking up curiously at his father.

"This…" said Touga, "is the hive of a species of wasp called Saimyoushou."

"Sai…myou…shou?" repeated InuYasha.

"Un."

"What has this got to do with anything?" asked InuYasha.

"The Saimyoushou are curious insects. Their sting can cause death within twenty-four hours unless the person stung is given the correct antidote. They were originally bred by the Kumonosu clan as tools to use in battle," said Touga.

"How did we end up with 'em?" asked InuYasha, eying the hive suspiciously.

"It's a long story. Something to do with your great-grandfather. The Kumonosu no longer have the ability to breed Saimyoushou, because all the secrets of doing so were passed to our clan. One of the reasons the Kumonosu hate us, you see?"

"Just get on with it," muttered InuYasha.

"Anyway, whether it was by coincidence or because of a plot by the Kumonosu clan, if the Saimyoushou themselves are sucked up into a Kazaana, the poison in them has an interesting effect. First, the user of the Kazaana will experience excruciating pain in the hand with the Kazaana. Second, the poison will force the Kazaana to close, and third, the poison _paralyzes_ it," explain Touga, grinning wickedly.

"Sou ka?" said InuYasha, stars gleaming in his eyes.

"Sou," said Touga.

With a speed that Touga hadn't anticipated, InuYasha snatched the Saimyoushou hive away from his father and held it up in the air.

Laughing with glee, InuYasha said, "With this, I can kick Miroku's ass without worrying about that hole in his hand!"

"The Saimyoushou are in here, ne?" he asked, pointing at the hive.

"Hai, demo…" began Touga.

"Oi! Wake up!" yelled InuYasha, shaking the hive vigorously.

Touga's eyes started out of his head.

"InuYasha, don't…!" he tried to say.

Too late. There was a buzzing noise, and several large wasps flew out of the tiny hole in the hive.

"How did they do that? They're twice the size of the hole!" exclaimed InuYasha.

"The hive acts as a summoner. They don't actually live in the hive. It's too small," explained Touga nervously.

InuYasha looked at the wasps. They were the size of a normal, everyday wren. But they were creepy-looking. They had two pairs of wings, with the pair in front being the largest. Their bodies were dark, mustard-yellow, but the segment in front of the head was a darkish purple. Their eyes were red, and around the eyes was the same dark purple, and then a very pale pink. They had horribly large mandibles.

"Taku, they're ugly," scoffed InuYasha, and the buzzing increased.

"InuYasha…they can understand you. They are intelligent, just like most living ninja tools…" said a sweatdropping Touga.

"Nani?" said InuYasha, panicking.

Slowly, he looked back at the hovering Saimyoushou. He gulped when he saw the unconcealed menace in their eyes.

"Tou-san…what do I do now?" he asked.

"You have to apologize. Politely," said Touga.

"Apologize? To a bug?" screeched InuYasha, and the Saimyoushou moved in closer.

InuYasha saw this and found the idea of apologizing quite sane at the moment.

"Ano… Sumimasen, for disturbing you! I-I didn't know that you could understand me! I don't think you're ugly, I mean, I do, demo…" stuttered InuYasha, and Touga slapped himself in the forehead with his palm and shook his head.

The Saimyoushou attacked. InuYasha just barely dodged a sting from one, and had to run like his life depended on it. Touga watched as InuYasha ran past him to the left, screaming, and then came back again, still screaming. The Saimyoushou followed shortly after InuYasha ran by. This continued for a couple more minutes, and Touga couldn't take it anymore. His son made such a comical sight that he had to laugh.

"What the hell are you laughing at? Help me!" screamed InuYasha, narrowly dodging the swarm of Saimyoushou.

The wasps aimed for his legs, causing InuYasha to jump, duck, dodge, and make every imaginable movement in order to get away from them. Touga laughed even harder; his son looked like he was performing some strange mating display or a very complex dance.

"Help me! Help me!" cried InuYasha, running around in circles.

Touga continued to laugh, while InuYasha spotted something that he hoped would be his salvation. A river. As quickly as he could, he dashed to it and jumped in with a loud splash. Luckily for him, it was deep enough for him to swim down to the bottom. The Saimyoushou hovered patiently over the water as it stilled. Occasionally, bubbles came up to show that InuYasha was releasing pent-up oxygen.

Two minutes went by, and then three, and there was still no sign of InuYasha. The bubbles coming up confirmed that he hadn't drowned yet. Touga, who had stopped laughing, went over and retrieved the Saimyoushou hive that InuYasha had dropped. He walked over to the river's edge and called out to the Saimyoushou.

"Yoshi, minna (everyone), I think he's learned his lesson. We'll try this again tomorrow, ne?" he said.

The Saimyoushou's buzzing became lower in pitch, and they flew over to Touga. One by one, they began entering the hive.

"Don't mind my son. He's a bit dense," Touga soothed as another climbed into the hive.

Finally, the last Saimyoushou crawled into the hive, and all was silent. Touga noticed that the bubbles were no longer coming up, and searched around for a decent-sized rock. His eyes landed on one that was about half the size of his head, and he picked it up. He watched the river's surface anxiously, and was relieved when another small bout of bubbles came up. Hefting the rock carefully, he chucked it in the spot where the bubbles had come up.

The rock hit the river with a loud 'ploop!' and sank. About five seconds later, InuYasha emerged spluttering and gasping. A large goose egg throbbed on his head where the rock had hit him. Too oxygen-deprived to complain, InuYasha swam over to Touga's feet and flopped down on the riverbank like a bedraggled rat. He lay gasping like a fish out of water.

"Well, at least we found a way to improve your speed," said Touga with amusement.

InuYasha shot him a dirty look, but didn't say anything.

-o-o-o-

Somewhere outside of Konoha, Kakashi was climbing up a cliff. _With one hand tied behind his back. _Muscles straining, Kakashi pulled himself up a little bit more with his free hand, and took another step up.

'_This rock climbing training is tougher than the last time… Taku, my body has weakened… Will I make in time?_' he thought.

Kakashi placed his foot on a weak spot on the cliff's side, and the rocks there collapsed. He gasped when his feet gave way under him, and he found himself dangling from the side of the cliff with only one hand keeping him up. The hand holding him in place began to tremble, and then the fingers began to weaken and slip.

Closing his eyes and focusing on the Kaimon (Gate of Opening) located in his brain, he said, "Kai (Release)!"

This released the restraints put naturally on his muscles, and allowed him to haul himself up easily with one hand. And so he began the slow climb upwards again.

A few minutes later, he was almost to the top. He shakily used his one arm to haul himself up. A shadow fell near him, and a pair of bandaged legs walked up. Kakashi grunted in surprise as he looked up into the figure standing in front of the sun.

"Yo," said the figure, making Kakashi laugh.

"So you've finally come," he said.

-o-o-o-

Back at the hospital, Sakura and Ino sighed simultaneously. They looked up in surprise when the nurse from earlier approached them.

"We will look for Sasuke-kun, but if you two find him, please notify us," said the nurse.

"Hai," said Sakura and Ino.

"Also, Lee-kun, was it?" asked the nurse.

"Hai."

The nurse checked her clipboard and said, "He is not in any condition to move either, so you can visit him for a little while."

-o-o-o-

Knocking on Lee's door, the nurse said, "Lee-kun, you have guests… Two kawaii girls."

She entered the room and dropped her clipboard again in shock. Again, Sakura and Ino gave sounds of surprise. (5)

"Not Lee-kun, too!" said the nurse, looking around.

"Lee-kun! Lee-kun!" she called.

"Lee-san…" said Ino, stepping forward.

Sakura gave a grunt of surprise when she looked out the window.

"Look," she said, pointing at it.

"Huh?" said Ino, looking out the window, as well.

Lee was in the hospital's courtyard, trying to do pushups with only one arm. He kept crying out, and it wasn't a wonder why.

"Lee-kun!" exclaimed the nurse, and left the room to go outside.

"Sakura, let's go!" said Ino, following the nurse.

"Un!"

Drops of sweat dripped to the ground as Lee exerted himself even more. His left arm was heavily bandaged, and both cheeks had gauze taped to them.

"Two hundred one arm pushups," said Lee with determination, "If I can't complete it, I will have to do one hundred one legged-squats!"

Going down for another pushup, he gritted out, "Hyakukyuujuu (one hundred ninety)…"

He pushed himself back up, crying out.

The nurse ran up to him and said, "Lee-kun! Stop!"

When he didn't stop, she repeated what she had just said, desperation in her voice.

As Sakura and Ino ran up next to the nurse, Lee said, "Hyakukyuujuuichi (one hundred and ninety-one)…"

"Lee-kun!" said the nurse, touching his shoulder.

She jerked it away when he turned to her fiercely and said, "Please don't touch me! Please…don't interrupt my training…"

Sakura experienced a flashback from earlier in the day.

_***Flashback**__*_

"_I'll take two."_

"_Nan de? One is enough," said Ino._

"_Iie, I need one for Lee-san, too," said Sakura happily._

_Ino grunted in surprise._

_She closed her eyes and said, "That reminded me of something, Sakura… Have you heard about Lee-san?"_

"_Eh? Heard? About what?" asked Sakura._

_Ino put a fist up to her mouth and furrowed her brow thoughtfully._

"_Lee-san… He's been seriously injured. I heard that he can't live on as a shinobi anymore."_

_***End Flashback**__*_

"Hyakukyuujuugo (one hundred and ninety-five)…!" said Lee, doing another pushup.

He went back up and then down again, saying, "Hyakukyuujuuroku (one hundred and ninety-six)…!"

"Hyakukyuujuunana (one hundred and ninety-seven)…!" he said, thinking of all the people he wanted to beat.

"Hyakukyuujuuhachi (one hundred and ninety-eight)…!" he said, thinking of Naruto.

He panted while using his limbs for support.

"I…am not through yet!" he said, thinking of the words that Gai had told him.

"_There is no point in working hard if you do not believe in yourself._"

Lee went down again for another pushup. He cried out from the pain the whole time. Ino and Sakura both watched in horror and awe at what Lee was doing.

"Hyakukyuujuukyuu (one hundred and ninety-nine)…!" said Lee, trying to go down again, even though he was pretty close to the ground anyway.

When his arms wouldn't cooperate, he said, "Just…just…one more time…!"

Then he gave a loud yell of pain and collapsed to the ground. Gasping, Sakura and Ino ran towards him.

"Lee-san!" said Sakura.

They stopped and watched the nurse roll Lee over and put him on his back comfortably.

"I will bring a stretcher! Please keep an eye on him!" she said, getting up and running off.

"Hai!" said Ino, and ran to Lee's side, followed by Sakura.

They kneeled down next to him. Sakura saw Lee's damaged arm and felt sorrow and pity swell up inside her. She closed her eyes.

"Ne, Ino," she said quietly.

"Eh?"

"Why do otoko no ko (boys) push themselves so hard?"

Ino was silent, unable to answer.

"Don't ask me, I'm a girl," she finally said.

"Gomen…"

-o-o-o-

"Nikudan Sensha (Human Bullet Tank)!" yelled Chouji, rolling towards Shikamaru quickly.

Shikamaru made a hand seal.

"Ninpou: Kagemane no (Ninja Art: Shadow Imitation)–" he began, and looked up in realization.

'_Shimatta, I'm short on chakra!_' he thought.

With that thought, he ran and jumped in the bushes just before Chouji reached the spot where he had been standing.

"Roll! Roll! Roll!" said Chouji excitedly, dirt flying everywhere.

Shikamaru had his hands on top of his head to protect it from flying debris. His butt was sticking up in the air as he kneeled on the ground. Once the dirt stopped flying, he pushed himself up and began shaking the dirt out of his hair.

"What's wrong, Shikamaru?" asked Asuma with amusement from behind the bushes, "Was that everything you had?"

Shikamaru sighed and said, "This is so troublesome…"

"Yoshi, Chouji," said Asuma, "Let's do it again."

-o-o-o-

The wind was blowing into Lee's hospital room, making the curtains billow. It also woke Lee up from passing out in the courtyard. Lee cracked one eye open, and turned towards the breeze. In the process, he saw the daffodil that Sakura had left for him.

"Who left that here?" he said to himself.

-o-o-o-

Sakura and Ino were walking back from the hospital, the afternoon light casting an orange glow on the street in front of them. Ino still held the rose that she had wanted to give to Sasuke, and Sakura still held her remaining daffodil.

"This bara (rose) went to waste," said Ino.

"My suisen (daffodil), too," said Sakura.

-o-o-o-

Jiraiya stood up from where he had been spying on a trio of girls in bathing suits and sighed.

"This is boring," he said, and turned to his new student, "Oi, Naruto. The swimsuit girls are gone now, so let's call it quits for today."

"Eh? Let's do this a bit more," protested Naruto, waving his arms in the air, "Just a bit more… A little bit more, okay?"

Jiraiya walked up to him and said, "I'm hungry. I'm tired as well."

"You didn't do anything," growled Naruto, holding up a fist.

"You should be thankful that I even bother to stay with you!" yelled Jiraiya, holding out his hand, palm out.

Naruto flinched with surprise and thought, '_He got mad…_'

Then he made a hand seal and said, "Fine. Oiroke no Jutsu (Sexy Technique)!"

There was a poof and a naked female Naruto with smoke covering the most intimate parts appeared. Naruto winked a heart cutely. Jiraiya yelled excitedly, pointing at Naruto with his index fingers and his thumbs up. Naruto sighed and cancelled the jutsu, revealing his normal self that had a hand behind his head.

"What? Over already?" asked Jiraiya, as if he couldn't understand why.

"I don't want to do the Oiroke no Jutsu! I want to be able to do the Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" said Naruto angrily.

"Fine, fine," said Jiraiya, squatting at Naruto's level, "Try it."

"Here I go," said Naruto with determination.

He made the proper hand seals and said, "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

There was a poof of smoke and a 'pop!' The smoke began to clear away.

"YOSHI!" yelled Naruto, with his fists clenched in front of his face.

Jiraiya sweatdropped as he stared at what Naruto summoned (6).

Then he yelled, "Just die! You have no talent at all!"

"Look carefully!" said Naruto, pointing angrily at the tadpole on the ground.

"Eh?" said Jiraiya, peering at the brown tadpole with yellow tomoe markings.

He wanted to cry, as he watched the tadpole give feeble attempts to hop.

"It has hind legs!" said Naruto, obviously excited and pleased.

"You idiot!" yelled Jiraiya, "Try and summon one with both arms and legs!"

"Urusai na!" shouted Naruto in retaliation, "It's better than before since it has hind legs!"

-o-o-o-

"Chikushou… I'm out of money…" muttered Kagome, watching two moths fly out of her empty wallet.

She was currently walking in the streets of Konoha, and earning looks from passersby, due to the amount of things she was carrying on her back. Not only did she have her erhu case, Sou'unga, and her quiver, but she also had her new fan strapped to her back with some rope that she had bought. The rope had used up the rest of her money.

"I'm hungry…" Kagome whined to herself.

She was always hungry, but the training she was doing everyday was using up a lot of her chakra and reiki. It also used up most of her energy and stamina. Eating fish that she caught from the river and edible plants she had found in the forest was her diet these days, but now she was hungry for something with more flavor. She wanted Ichiraku's ramen. But she had no money to pay for it.

'_Either I'll end up washing dishes for a week, or I can do _that_,_' thought Kagome, her eyebrow twitching.

She had brought enough attention to herself already to last her a lifetime, but she really needed the money, if she wanted to eat ramen. With a huff, Kagome made her decision and looked for a suitable place to sit. She found a wall to sit against and walked over to it. Carefully, she removed her erhu case from her back, having to take off her quiver and new fan in the process. Once she did that, she set it down and sat down next to it.

She undid the clasps holding the lid down and opened it. Her erhu looked as it always did, but the afternoon light made it gleam even more. The boa skin on it gave off an iridescent color. Taking it and its bow out, she closed the lid and sat on it; she played better when she had something to sit on. She propped the end of the erhu on her knee, took the bow, and began playing.

People in the street stopped what they were doing to see what was making that wonderful noise. Some moved in closer to get a better look. Kagome ignored them, and continued to play. Her fingers slowly began to dance on the erhu, though she made sure to pull out each note for long time, to make it sound sad. She tapped a foot to make sure she kept rhythm, and closed her eyes. That way she only felt the vibrations of the notes she was producing from under her fingertips, and heard them, as well. She poured her feelings into her fingers, and made sure that they came out as she pulled the bow back and forth through the two strings on the erhu. Slowly, she forgot about the people around her, who were watching.

-o-o-o-

"Hm? What's that oto?" said Ino, as she and Sakura passed the entrance to a street.

"Some kind of instrument?" guessed Sakura.

"There are people gathering around that spot there," said Ino, pointing down the street, "Is that where it's coming from?"

They started down the street towards the noise, followed by more people. Everyone was curiously peering over each other's shoulders in the crowd, trying to see what was making the noise. As Sakura got closer to the noise, she wondered why it sounded so familiar.

"I can't see!" said Ino as they reached the crowd.

Both of them stretched onto their tippy-toes to try and see over the shoulders of the adults, but it was no use. They couldn't see anything. Sakura squatted on the ground and peered past the legs of the people in front of her. Squinting, she could just barely make out the figure of a person sitting on something lying on the ground.

Both Ino and Sakura jumped when a man right beside them sniffed. They looked up and saw, to their surprise, that he was crying.

"Such a sad uta (song)…" said the man, wiping away the tears rolling down his cheeks.

Sakura and Ino stopped trying to see what was making the noise and listened. They saw that the man was right; it was a sad song. It made you think of all the sad things that had happened in your life. A constriction began around both of their hearts, making it hard to breathe. Sakura blinked away tears that swelled up in her eyes.

Finally, the song began to wind down. The notes became slower and lower, until they finally stopped altogether with a final, lasting note that vibrated in the air. Everyone was quiet for a second, and then the crowd burst into applause. Sakura and Ino heard the sounds of the paper bills of money being thrown down, presumably at the instrument player's feet.

Slowly, when it was clear that no more songs were going to be played, the crowd began to disperse. Sakura and Ino moved forward through the crowd, making their way to see who had made such wonderful music.

Sakura gasped when she caught sight of who had played the instrument, and it all came crashing down on her where she heard the sound of the instrument before.

-o-o-o-

Kagome opened her eyes at the final note, held it, and then lowered her erhu's bow. The crowd began to clap, and she looked up at them, surprised. She was even more surprised when she saw that most of them had tears rolling down their cheeks. Some were trying to clap and wipe their tears away at the same time.

'_Why do they always cry when I play that one?_' thought Kagome with confusion.

She stood and bowed deeply. Ryou began to be thrown at her feet, and it kept coming. She watched with growing confusion and pleasure as more and more ryou was thrown at her feet. Standing up straight, she watched as the crowd began to move away and go back to what they were doing. She took this as her cue to start collecting the money. It would have been rude to do so when the crowd was still there.

Kagome stepped out of the pile of money and kneeled down beside it. Carefully, she began picking up bill by bill and laying each neatly in a pile in her hand. She heard a gasp and decided to ignore it. Picking up the last bill, she looked through the pile. There was enough ryou there to buy her at least three night's worth of eating Ichiraku's, even with her big appetite. Tucking away the bills in her wallet, she began packing up her erhu.

"Has it ever occurred to you that that's stealing?" said a familiarly annoying voice.

"Can I help you, Sakura-san?" asked Kagome politely, not looking up.

She placed the erhu in its case, along with the bow, and closed the lid. Then she put the clasps in place.

"You're stealing away people's money just by sitting in the street! Go find a real job!" spat Sakura.

Kagome put on her erhu, and then Sou'unga and her fan. She turned to face Sakura, and saw Ino there, as well.

"I see that you are arguing with me for no apparent reason. You know that I earned this money fair and square," said Kagome evenly.

Sakura worked her mouth up and down, but couldn't argue with what Kagome had said. It was true, after all.

"Maa, if you don't have anything else to say, then oyasumi (good night) Sakura-san, Ino-san," said Kagome, shifting the strap of her erhu into a more comfortable position.

She began to walk away, patting her pocket to make sure that her wallet was secure.

"Chotto matte!" Sakura called after her.

"Nan desu ka?" asked Kagome, not turning.

"Sasuke-kun disappeared from the hospital today," said Sakura.

"And? Am I supposed to care?" asked Kagome, still with her back turned.

"I was wondering if you had seen him, since you're always sneaking around and popping up in places you're not supposed to!" said Sakura.

At this, Kagome turned and gave a Sakura a cold glare.

"Why would I have seen him? I want that Uchiha gaki as far away from me as possible. I wouldn't want him infecting me with that terrible personality of his," she said.

"Why you–!" said Sakura, gritting her teeth.

Suddenly, Kagome disappeared. Ino and Sakura gasped and looked around.

"Ichiraku's is this way," said Kagome's voice from behind them.

Sakura and Ino whirled around, and saw Kagome walking away from them in the opposite direction. Just as Sakura was about to go after the blue-eyed girl, Ino caught her by the shoulder.

"Sakura, don't! She nearly broke your wrist the other day!" she hissed.

"Demo–!"

"All you're doing is egging her on! I doubt that she saw Sasuke today, since she and him had a confrontation the last time they met!" said Ino.

When Sakura relaxed, Ino let go of her.

"Sakura, that girl might just kill you if you keep bothering her. You should avoid her," said Ino.

"Un…" said Sakura, looking down.

-o-o-o-

Uzuki Yuugao was on a mission. But it wasn't a normal mission; it was one that she had assigned herself. And it was not like her other missions either. Since she was an ANBU, she usually did things like assassinations and stealth. Right now, she was walking out in the evening air without even wearing her ANBU mask, though she did wear her ANBU clothing and katana. She was looking for someone, in order to thank them.

The other night, Yuugao had come home for the first time in a while to find her lover, Hayate, having the worst coughing fit she had ever seen him have. She had tried to help him, but Hayate had just coughed harder, forcing the phlegm in his lungs to come up. He had spent most of the night in the bathroom, spitting the stuff from his lungs into the toilet. Yuugao had been relieved when he had stopped coughing and came out of the bathroom.

_***Flashback**__*_

_Hayate looked terrible. The circles under his eyes were darker than ever, due to lack of sleep from coughing. He looked exhausted, but also relieved._

'_I can breathe again, Yuugao. She was really telling the truth,' said Hayate, who flopped down on the bed._

'_Who?' asked Yuugao._

'_A Genin girl by the name of Higurashi Kagome. She did something to me, Yuugao. She fixed me,' said Hayate._

'_Impossible! The doctors said–!'_

'_I know what the doctors said. But she did it,' said Hayate._

_Yuugao hardly believed that some girl had cured Hayate's illness. If the doctors of Konoha couldn't, then how could a mere girl do it just like that?_

'_She also saved me from that Suna nin last night,' said Hayate, resting his eyes._

'_Nani? Some Genin girl cured you and then _saved_ you from being killed? She's not even from Konohagakure, is she?' asked Yuugao._

'_Iie. I don't know what her motives are, or if she even has any. But she saved my life, twice. If she hadn't cured me, I would have died eventually from my illness anyway. I have to thank her…' said Hayate, and then he fell asleep._

_Yuugao was suspicious of the Genin's actions. If Hayate didn't look better in a couple days, or got worse, than she would track down that Genin girl and kill her._

_*__**End Flashback**__*_

But Hayate had gotten noticeably better. Yuugao had volunteered to watch over him most of time, since Hayate was lying low for a while. The shadows under Hayate's eyes had faded a little, and he was sleeping soundly, without having to stay up and fight to breathe. Yuugao had put her ear to his chest, and his lungs had been clean, with no wheezing.

Convinced that the Genin girl had meant no harm, Yuugao had asked someone she trusted to watch over Hayate for a little while. She wanted to find the girl and thank her. But it wasn't that easy. Even though Hayate had given her a description of the girl's appearance, Konoha was a big village. Finding one person was like looking for a needle in a haystack.

Sighing, Yuugao leaned up against a nearby building and closed her eyes. She had searched for two hours now and still there was no luck in finding the one known as Higurashi Kagome.

"Another one, onegai!" came a girl's voice loudly.

Yuugao cracked open an eye and looked over at the source of the noise. It was coming from the local favorite and popular ramen shop, Ichiraku's, from across the street. She did a double take, opening her eyes fully. There was a girl sitting on one of the stools at the ramen shop. Yuugao leaned forward to get a closer look.

'_Could it be…?_'

-o-o-o-

"Another one, onegai!" Kagome said loudly.

Ayame smiled at her and said, "Sure thing!" before bustling off to get another bowl of ramen for Kagome.

Kagome smiled back and her eyes drifted the pile of bowls next to her elbow on the counter. There were already fourteen bowls there, all cleaned out from her being so hungry. Another grumble came from her stomach, and she sighed.

"I don't think I'll ever be full…" she muttered.

She was dimly aware of someone walking up beside her, but she figured it was another customer of the ramen shop.

"Are you Higurashi Kagome?" asked a female voice.

Startled, Kagome looked up. She found herself looking at a tallish woman with dark violet hair, with eyes the same color without pupils. But what caught Kagome's attention was the woman's attire, which was definitely ANBU. The tattoo on the woman's right shoulder confirmed her suspicions.

'_An ANBU? What does an ANBU want with me? Did I do something wrong?_' thought Kagome.

"Hai," she said cautiously.

Before she knew it, the woman had swooped down on her and enveloped her into a bear hug. It was so unexpected that Kagome had no time to even react. If an enemy had wanted to take her off guard, this was definitely the way to do it.

"You saved Hayate's life. Not once, but twice," said the woman happily.

"Gekkou Hayate…?" Kagome managed to gasp, since the woman was hugging her so tightly.

"Hai! He was doing so well this morning! He hasn't coughed once!" said the woman, obviously thrilled.

"That's good…" gasped Kagome.

"What can I ever do to repay you for what you've done?" asked the strange woman.

"Quit hugging me to death…?" Kagome suggested.

"Gomen!" said the woman, instantly letting go of Kagome.

Taking in deep gulps of air, Kagome watched the woman warily, in case she decided to attack her with a hug again.

"Who…exactly…are you?" she panted.

"Sumimasen, I was so happy about Hayate that I forgot to introduce myself! Watashi wa Uzuki Yuugao desu," said the woman, bowing politely.

Kagome barely noted Ayame setting down another bowl of ramen for her.

"Ano… Watashi wa Higurashi Kagome desu," said Kagome nervously, bending her body forward a little on her stool.

"Kagome? That's a pretty name," said Yuugao, taking a seat on the tool beside Kagome.

"Arigatou," muttered Kagome with embarrassment, picking up her chopsticks.

She began slurping up her noodles again, wanting to fill her eternally empty stomach for just a moment. Yuugao couldn't help but stare as Kagome finished up one bowl, then another, and then another.

"So," said Kagome, after finishing her nineteenth bowl, "how exactly are you related to Hayate? Are you his wife?"

"Iie, I'm his lover," said Yuugao.

"His…lover…?" said Kagome, turning bright red.

The word 'lover' brought not quite pure thoughts and images into her mind whenever she heard it.

"Hai," said Yuugao, apparently not noticing how embarrassed Kagome was.

"Isn't 'girlfriend' a better word?" asked Kagome.

"Hayate and I are not officially dating," explained Yuugao.

"Oh," was all Kagome said.

"How old are you?" asked Yuugao.

"Juusan," mumbled Kagome, wishing this woman would go away and quit embarrassing her.

Yuugao looked Kagome up and down, and saw that the girl was a little on the short side. She appeared to have a completely flat chest, as well.

"You haven't had your growth spurts yet, have you?" asked Yuugao, sounding as if it were obvious.

"Iie," said Kagome, an eyebrow twitching angrily.

"Oh, well, some girls get them later than most. Don't let it get to you," said Yuugao kindly.

Kagome's anger died down, and she figured that this woman just meant well. She started on her twenty-fifth bowl, and wondered why she was so hungry. Even when she trained hard, she never ate _this_ much without feeling like her stomach was going to burst.

"I know what I could do to thank you. I can pay for your meal tonight," said Yuugao.

Nearly choking on her ramen, Kagome practically yelled, "Iie! I can't let you do that!"

"And why not?" asked Yuugao, raising an eyebrow.

"Are you blind? Look how much I've eaten!" said Kagome, waving her hands at the two towers of bowls next to her.

"So? I can pay for that," said Yuugao.

"_And_ I'm still hungry!" protested Kagome.

"_And_ I'm still going to pay for it. Look, you saved Hayate's life, so this is just a small thanks from him and me compared to that."

'_A _small_ thanks? She's going to go broke!_' thought Kagome, sweatdropping.

Kagome looked at the woman's determined face, and sighed with defeat. Yuugao wasn't going to give up, was she?

"Fine, but it's your loss when you lose all your money," said Kagome, starting to scoop the noodles into her mouth again.

Yuugao smiled and said, "Arigatou."

-o-o-o-

Kakashi was getting fed up with Sasuke. It had been three days now since they had begun their training, and the boy was simply not paying attention. Every time Kakashi attacked Sasuke, the Uchiha was caught off guard. Several times now, Kakashi had been tempted to just kick Sasuke off the side of the cliff and see how he could get himself out of that. And Kakashi knew what kept distracting Sasuke. It was that girl.

He could tell because whenever Sasuke zoned out, he clenched his fists and gritted his teeth in anger. Sasuke had never acted like this _before_ he met Higurashi Kagome.

Sighing, Kakashi decided that there was no other choice. He dug into his Jounin vest and pulled out a small, plastic bag. Inside, folded up neatly, was a bloodstained glove. The glove had a small square patch of material cut away where the blood was the most concentrated. Narrowing his eyes, Kakashi remembered why the material had been removed.

_*__**Flashback**__*_

'_I would like you to compare the DNA of these two samples,' said Kakashi, handing Sasuke's doctor two vials. _

_One had a square piece of rusty-red fabric rolled up inside it. The other contained some black hairs taken from Sasuke's head._

'_What are they?' asked the doctor, holding the vials up to the light._

'_The vial with the hair is from Uchiha Sasuke. The other has a sample of blood taken from a girl known as Higurashi Kagome,' said Kakashi._

'_Eh? The girl that has the Sharingan?' said the doctor._

'_So you _have_ heard the rumors.'_

'_Demo…if she has the Sharingan, then she must be a descendant of the Uchiha bloodline!' said the doctor._

'_That's what I want the lab here to find out. I want it confirmed that Higurashi Kagome is in fact related to Uchiha Sasuke, and how far apart in the family tree they are. If possible, I want to find out who the girl's father is,' explained Kakashi._

_Nodding, the doctor clenched the vials in his fist and said, 'I will take this down to the lab immediately. But the tests will not be completed until a couple weeks from now.'_

'_That is fine. I have business to attend to, so it may be around three to four weeks before I come to pick up the test results. Arigatou, doctor,' said Kakashi._

'_No problem, Kakashi-san.'_

_***End Flashback**__*_

But Kakashi's primary reason for taking the glove wasn't for DNA testing. He had taken it because he had anticipated that when he began to train Sasuke, the boy would do exactly as he was doing now. Therefore, Kakashi needed to bring Higurashi Kagome to Sasuke. But he couldn't just leave Sasuke and go retrieve the girl himself. He had to have extra help.

Biting his thumb and making some hand seals, Kakashi said, "Kuchiyose no Justu!"

He planted both hands on the ground, and there was a poof of smoke. Once it cleared away, it revealed a small dog. The dog looked like a pug, and was squatting on the ground, looking remarkably like a toad. Tied on its head was a blue Konoha hitai-ite, and on its back was a small jacket-like object that had a henohenomoheji (7) sewn into it on the back. Bandages were wrapped around its right foreleg.

"Yo," said Kakashi to the ninken.

"Is there something you want, Kakashi?" asked the ninken, in a surprisingly gruff voice for its size.

"Un. I want you to find the girl that this scent belongs to," said Kakashi, squatting down and holding out the glove, which he had taken out of the bag, for the ninken to sniff.

The ninken sniffed at the glove.

"Hmm, smells like plastic, blood, you…" counted off the ninken, making Kakashi sweatdrop, "rain, and…honeysuckle, maybe."

"Those last two should be the girl," said Kakashi.

"Hm, should be easy enough to find, with a scent like that. It's not very often you find a ningen that smells that good," said the ninken.

"Is that an insult, Pakkun?" asked Kakashi.

"Iie, you smell very nice, even when you're all hot and sweaty. That's quite an accomplishment, I might add," said 'Pakkun', not even blinking.

"Fine. But I want you to find this girl, whose name is Higurashi Kagome. I want you to lead her here as fast as possible. But," said Kakashi, holding up a finger, "I want her to climb all the way up here with only one hand. She must tie the other behind her back, and if she doesn't cooperate, you have my permission to bite her."

"What if she tries to cheat?" asked Pakkun.

"As I said, bite her."

"Yoshi," said Pakkun, stretching.

He walked over to the edge of the cliff and looked down.

"Don't you think you made a slight miscalculation, Kakashi?" he asked.

"Why do you think that?" asked Kakashi.

"How do you think I will get down?"

"You can walk on water, can't you? Just use your chakra to stick your feet on the side of the cliff," said the Copy Ninja, wishing Pakkun would get going already.

"What if I fall?"

"Are you trying to annoy me?" asked Kakashi.

"It was worth a shot," said Pakkun.

"Maa, get going already. I want this problem with Uchiha Sasuke fixed up as soon as possible," said Kakashi.

"You got it," said Pakkun, and simply walked over the edge.

Kakashi peeked over the side, and saw Pakkun running down the side of the cliff as if it were the ground instead of a sheer dropoff. Giving a fake sigh of relief, Kakashi walked out from behind the outcrop of rocks he had been hiding behind. Sasuke was standing a little ways away, his arms crossed grumpily.

"Taku, what took you so long?" he asked.

Rubbing the back of his neck nervously, Kakashi said, "I had to answer the call of nature, you know. I drank a lot of water this morning."

_**Owari**_

-o-o-o-

**Omake: Bankrupt**

Yuugao was walking towards the apartment building where she shared an apartment with Hayate. She was looking into her empty wallet.

"That girl ate _thirty_ bowls of ramen. That's insane…" she said to herself.

She kind of envied the girl for being able to eat that much without getting fat. But she was an adolescent, and they could eat practically anything without so much as gaining a pound. All of that energy taken from the food was used to make the body grow an inch overnight.

Sighing, Yuugao thought, '_I hope my next mission pays really well, because I'm practically bankrupt.'_

-o-o-o-

**Author's Notes**

(1) Genma's another hottie ***drools***

(2) Galbi is grilled Korean cuisine made with marinated beef or pork short ribs in a Korean soy sauce

(3) How can they hear her so well? There is _glass_ in the window; shouldn't her voice be muffled?

(4) She's had this flashback how many times now?

(5) Déjà vu

(6) Why does he look like he's wearing lipstick when he does that face? Does he have really full lips or does he _really_ wear lipstick? O.O

(7) A henohenomoheji is a face-shaped design that Japanese children commonly put on their scarecrows. It is also the sound that is made when all the characters in the face are put together. Kishimoto Masashi is a genius, since 'Kakashi' means 'scarecrow', and Kakashi's ninken all have the henohenomoheji on their backs

I have finished the fourteenth chapter! I'm so happy! ***sniff*** ***sniff*** ***wipes away tears*** Anyway, in the next chapter, you get see a lot of asskicking, so look forward to it! By the way, the song lyrics for this chapter are not from any anime. UVERworld is one of my most favorite bands, so I had to put one of their non-anime songs in.

And remember to review! Please…


	16. Chapter XV: Cliff

THE SPIRITS ARE ALWAYS WITH YOU! BWA HA HA HA HA!

I'm very, very, very x the highest number, sorry! I had my first major writer's block! But I hope you'll like the chapter. The characters may be a little OoC, since I haven't watched Naruto in over a week.

Disclaimer: Turns out I was just dreaming… I fell asleep in front of the computer after drinking too much caffeine, which makes me have crazy-ass dreams. ***sighs*** And it was a good dream too; I made Keira Knightly walk the plank… Anyway, I don't own InuYasha or Naruto

"talking"

'_thinking_'

'**Bijuu talking to host**'

**Chapter Fifteen: Cliff**

-o-o-o-

Mou gama bakka shiterannai yo  
Iitai koto wa iwanakucha  
Kaerimichi yuugure no basutei  
Ochikonda senaka ni BYE BYE BYE  
Kimi no FIGHTING POSE misenakya OH OH  
Yume ni made mita you na sekai wa  
Arasoi mo naku heiwa na nichijou  
Demo genjitsu wa hibi to rabu de  
Tama ni kuyandari shiteru  
Sonna ROLLING DAYS

My patience is running out  
I want to say what I wanna say  
Coming home from the bus stop at twilight  
Saying bye bye bye to sad backs of others  
You gotta show your fighting pose, oh, oh  
A world like I have seen in my dreams  
Without conflict, just daily peace  
But in reality, I tend to worry about  
Troubles and the daily grind  
Those rolling days

~ 'Rolling Star' (Bleach Opening Theme 5)  
YUI

-o-o-o-

Kagome was fighting with a Kage Bunshin in order to gain some physical strength. The Kage Bunshin was one of her 'improved' versions. It was one that went all out in fighting, using brute force to overcome the opponent. And it was also perfect when it came to building up overall muscle strength.

"You're too slow! C'mon!" shouted the Kage Bunshin, using its cloned version of Sou'unga to try and beat Kagome down.

Kagome, however, was using two kunai to fight, rather than her own, real Sou'unga. The Kage Bunshin swiped its Sou'unga up over its head and towards Kagome, who blocked it using the kunai. Sparks flew and metal screeched as Kagome held the kunai in place. Her arms began to shake as she tried to force the Sou'unga clone away.

Gritting its teeth in irritation, the Kage Bunshin lifted up the katana and swiped at Kagome's head. Again, she blocked it, but her feet skidded backwards in the dirt.

"Keh! You're no fun!" said the Kage Bunshin, swiping at Kagome's legs.

Kagome dodged by jumping, but the Bunshin was ready for her. Again, it swiped with the katana, and this time it made a thin cut on Kagome's cheek. Kagome gasped and flipped backwards, landing in a crouch. She held her cheek, which stung like a paper cut. Then she took her hand away from the cut, and saw the blood on her hand. Anger welled up inside her.

"Kuso!" she yelled, and sprang at the Kage Bunshin.

"Sou desu! Sou desu! Use all of your strength in one blow! This will work better when you want to finish off an opponent quickly!" said the Kage Bunshin, blocking Kagome's attacks.

This time, Kagome used the kunai individually, blocking each katana attack with just one. Sparks flew as she parried each blow that was given to her, and she answered them with hits with equal force. She gritted her teeth, forcing her body to move faster, wanting to give the final blow. The Kage Bunshin grinned, enjoying every moment of it. This made Kagome decide to cheat.

She ducked a blow and used a leg to swipe the Bunshin's legs from beneath it. The Kage Bunshin gasped and fell backwards with a heavy 'thud!'. It choked and looked down at its chest, where one of Kagome's kunai stuck out.

Looking upwards, the Bunshin gritted out, "You cheater!"

It 'poofed' out of existence, and Kagome snorted.

"You have to cheat, when you're a ninja. Cheating is a type of deception, baka," she said, wiping away the blood trickling down her cheek.

"That was impressive," said a gruff voice behind Kagome.

Kagome froze and looked behind her. She didn't see anyone.

"Down here," said the voice from near the ground.

Her eyes dropped, and she found herself looking at a small dog. She frowned, realizing that the dog was the one that had spoken. Looking closer at it, she saw that it was a ninken pug. It looked rather like a toad, squatting like it was on the ground.

"Can I help you?" asked Kagome, squatting down at the ninken's level.

"You are Higurashi Kagome, ne?" asked the pug.

'_Great, another person that knows who I am, but I don't know who they are,_' thought Kagome.

"Hai. That's my name. May I ask who _you_ are?" she asked.

"I am Pakkun. I was sent to find you and lead you somewhere important," said the pug.

"Who sent you?" asked Kagome, both curious and cautious.

"You will find out when we get there," said Pakkun.

He sniffed the air and added, "You are the most delicious smelling ningen I've ever encountered."

"Arigatou…?" said Kagome, wondering how she was supposed to respond.

"We should get going. Ikuzou," said Pakkun, turning and walking away.

"Ch-chotto matte! Who said I was going!" Kagome called after him, standing up in the process.

"_I_ did. Just so you know, I was given permission to bite you if you didn't cooperate," said Pakkun.

"Who gave you permission? Was it a creepy pale guy named Orochimaru?" demanded Kagome.

For a moment, the dog simply stared at her with his eyes narrowed.

Finally, he said, "Iie, my summoner is not Orochimaru."

'_He's familiar with the name,_' Kagome noticed.

"Then who did? I'm not moving one inch until you tell me!" said Kagome, crossing her arms and sticking her nose up in the air with a 'hmph!'.

"Look, if you go with me to the place I'm supposed to lead you to, I'll let you touch my paw pads," said Pakkun, holding up a tiny paw.

"They're really soft," he coaxed, after Kagome gave him a look.

"You're a ninken and you have soft paw pads? Don't your feet hurt most of the time, then?" asked Kagome, raising an eyebrow.

"Not all. I take good care of my feet. Ka- My_ summoner_ helps out with them, too," said Pakkun.

"AH HA! You almost said your summoner's name!" said Kagome, pointing triumphantly at Pakkun.

"We're wasting time here," said the pug, changing the subject, "so hurry up and gather only what you need. We need to travel light, since I need to get you there as soon as possible."

'_That rules out taking my erhu, Sou'unga, and my quiver. Matte, when did I decide that I was going?_' thought Kagome.

She eyed Pakkun and thought, '_But it looks like I have no choice. Dog bites can be nasty, no matter the breed._' (1)

"Fine, I'll go with you," said Kagome, sighing with defeat, "But if you or your summoner try anything funny, you won't be able to scratch yourself for a week."

This didn't seem to perturb Pakkun at all. He didn't even blink.

"Whatever you need to bring or leave behind, take care of it right now. And be quick about it," he said.

Kagome dashed off to a nearby tree and found her stash of belongings in a hollow beneath the roots. She took off Sou'unga and its saya, along with her quiver, and placed them beside her erhu; it had been laying concealed within the hollow. She kept her fan on, since she still wanted to practice with it, no matter where she was going. She also picked up her small pack and strapped it on.

Summoning her reiki to her fingertips, she put a barrier around her belongings. All of her belongings would be safe from being touched for at least a week, until she took the barrier down. If the barrier should fail for some reason, at least Sou'unga had its own protection. Nobody except Kagome could touch it. But for the meantime, if anyone tried to touch what was hers, they would get a nasty shock, literally.

"Yoshi, I'm ready," said Kagome, walking back over to Pakkun.

"That's good. Make sure you keep up with me," said the pug, before leaping up into the trees.

"I'll make sure I will," said Kagome, smirking before leaping after him.

-o-o-o-

"Concentrate, baka yarou!" barked Touga, hitting his son over the head with his fist for what seemed the billionth time that day.

"I'm trying! It's so hard to give directions to so many at once!" complained InuYasha.

They were currently working on the hand signals that were used to tell the Saimyoushou what to do. A couple days before, InuYasha had finally gained the acceptance of the Saimyoushou, but that didn't mean that they obeyed him at every turn. Just because they tolerated his presence was a small accomplishment. Now it was vital that InuYasha gained their trust and respect, so that they obeyed him faithfully during the tournament. Touga would consider his son really lucky if that happened in time; it had taken him a year to do what InuYasha was attempting to do.

"Oi! Watch it!" yelled InuYasha, narrowly dodging a sting from a Saimyoushou.

"Don't provoke them, son. You have to calm yourself and show them that you are the one in control," said Touga sternly.

InuYasha huffed and began to go through the exercise again. Making sharp gestures with his hands, he guided the Saimyoushou through an intricate network of holes and tunnels that Touga had made using a Doton. The holes and tunnels were big enough so that InuYasha and the Saimyoushou could see each other. Concentrating, InuYasha guided the Saimyoushou through the complex set of turns that his father had showed him. He had learned that it took the right timing to get the Saimyoushou turn the way he wanted when he wanted.

The Saimyoushou that weren't guided through or missed a turn flew out of the network of tunnels and waited patiently for the rest of their fellows to make it through. Sweat rolled down InuYasha's face as he struggled to remember the correct turns and what gestures to make in order to make the wasps go the right way.

He gritted his teeth when he watched the remaining force of Saimyoushou make their way out of the network of tunnels. There were more this time than there had been last time, but still, he hadn't guided them all through.

"Hm, you lost twelve this time. That's three better than last time," said Touga thoughtfully.

He smiled at InuYasha and said, "Well, you're improving, at least."

InuYasha huffed and sat down heavily on the ground. He wiped the sweat away from his face and sighed. The Saimyoushou flew over to him and hovered patiently, while he rubbed his eyes tiredly.

"How does that gaki manage to make everything look so easy?" muttered InuYasha.

"Kagome doesn't know how to use the Saimyoushou, InuYasha," said Touga.

"But still! She mastered Kenjutsu ('the art of the sword') in just half a year! She uses powerful jutsu without any problem, and is a master in all three forms of fighting that shinobi uses! She's _thirteen_, for kami's sake!" complained InuYasha.

"I don't suppose you knew that Kagome stayed up late every night trying to master Kenjutsu, do you?" asked Touga.

"Eh? She did?" said InuYasha, surprised.

"Un. She practiced till midnight on dummies that trainees use in the dojo. Most of the time she made her hands bleed because she tried too hard," said Touga.

"I never knew that," said InuYasha quietly.

"As to her using powerful jutsu, she practices those, too. Don't you ever wonder why she never gains weight, or why she's hungry all the time? She uses up vast quantities of chakra and reiki everyday in her training, and that takes a toll on her body. She's a master in Taijutsu, Genjutsu, and Ninjutsu because she trains so hard to become stronger."

"Taku," said InuYasha, lying back in the grass, "she's strong enough. She must have some kind of complex."

"It's hard to live on the streets and _not_ develop some kind of complex," said Touga.

A Saimyoushou flew over to InuYasha and landed on his head. He slowly looked up and gritted his teeth, trying not to flinch at the sight of the insect peering down at him with its red eyes. Its mandibles were working slightly.

"I guess you've improved a little with them today. Hora (see), she likes you," said Touga happily.

"How the hell do you know it's a 'she'?" demanded InuYasha, sitting up and forgetting that he had a giant wasp sitting on top of his head.

The Saimyoushou didn't seem to mind the sudden trip upwards. It just squatted in InuYasha's hair and clung there.

InuYasha nearly fell over when his father said simply, "Intuition."

-o-o-o-

"Why are we doing this again?" asked Miroku, panting heavily in the process.

"To build up your overall strength. We need to at least make you a match to my weakling otouto," said Sesshoumaru calmly.

Miroku held the fighting stance that Sesshoumaru had showed him. In his hands was a wooden practice-sword, the kind that trainees used before they could be trusted not to lop someone's arm off accidentally with a real sword. Sesshoumaru held one too, but his stance seemed more confident and natural than Miroku's rigid one.

Waiting for Sesshoumaru to attack, Miroku's eyes began to water. His sensei was staring at him with his unblinking golden eyes, and it was unnerving him. It was also, apparently, causing his eyes to water on the behalf of the other's eyes.

Just before he attacked, Miroku saw Sesshoumaru move his foot forward slightly. This gave him enough time to block the first attack, and even manage to block the next one. But the third attack hit him right in the stomach, knocking the air out of his lungs with an audible 'whoosh'. Saliva flew from his mouth.

"You are beginning to see when I attack. That is good. That means that this will go by quicker and you will gain more arm and leg strength," said Sesshoumaru, looking down at the gasping Miroku, who was bent over double trying to get the nasty feeling out of his stomach from being hit.

"It feels like an alien is trying to break out of my stomach," gasped Miroku, clutching his side.

Sesshoumaru raised his eyebrow at the comparison. Then he attacked again. Miroku gasped and leapt out of the way, skidding into his fighting stance a short ways away. His stomach still hurt, making it a little painful to breathe.

'_Attacking like that! He sure is ruthless when it comes to fighting. Just like Kagome-sama,_' he thought.

He blocked another one of Sesshoumaru's attacks, which forced one of his feet to skid against the dirt. Gritting his teeth, he put more force against the wooden blade of Sesshoumaru's katana, forcing the other back a bit. Sesshoumaru smirked and did the same, almost forcing Miroku to his knees.

'_Nani? He's put more pressure on the blade! Yoshi, I'll just have to attack him instead!_'

With a yell, Miroku pushed himself away from Sesshoumaru and swung at his sensei's shoulder. It was easily blocked, but it apparently took his sensei by surprise. Unperturbed, Miroku swung and swung again, forcing Sesshoumaru back. Then Sesshoumaru regained his composure and swiped at Miroku, but the houshi dodged it and swiped at his legs instead.

Leaping backwards, Sesshoumaru smirked again.

"Sou ka…" he said, "You do not like to be bested, Kazetani Miroku."

"It's kind of hard not to, since I spent most of my Academy years being the 'dobe' of my class," said Miroku, narrowing his eyes.

Sesshoumaru closed his eyes and smirked.

"Did you know, Miroku, that my chichi-ue was the dobe of his class?" he asked.

"Are you trying to make me feel better, _sensei_? Because it's not working," said Miroku, "Everyone knows that Tsukikage-sama was a genius from birth.'

"Un, a genius of sneaking out of class. No matter what the sensei of his class did, my chichi-ue always managed to think up a distraction or use a moment to his advantage in order to slip out of the door. Or window, so I've heard. Everybody thought that he was a no-good dropout, except one man.

"A Jounin by the name of Shouno Kyoushi (2) saw chichi-ue's potential, and tricked chichi-ue into becoming his student. At first, chichi-ue merely ignored Shouno, until he was forced to use his wits in order to get himself and Shouno out of a tight situation. That bonded them, even after chichi-ue married Shouno's niece, Shouno Mikazuki (3), my haha-ue (mother). Shouno died a year before she did, on a mission," finished Sesshoumaru.

Everything was silent for a moment. Sesshoumaru opened his eyes, and nearly jumped back in surprise. Miroku was practically nose-to-nose to him, looking at him suspiciously. The houshi jumped back with fright.

Pointing at his sensei, Miroku said, "Oh, my god! I can practically see your soul shining through the windows of your eyes!" (4)

A tick mark appeared on Sesshoumaru's head.

-o-o-o-

"This village goes on forever and ever!" chirped a happy Shippou.

Shippou was currently walking around Konoha, taking in the sites and wanting to see new things. Shuuran wasn't with him this time; Touga had allowed Shippou to go off on his own, as long as he tried to stay out of trouble.

"_But if you do,_" Touga had warned, wagging his finger at Shippou, "_don't try to fight. Use these kemui no bakudan (smoke bomb(s)) to divert attention away from you._"

'_Not only do I have these kemui no bakudan, but I also have Kagome-nee-chan's special senkoudan (flash bomb(s)) that she gave me,_' thought Shippou confidently, patting the toy shuriken pouch that was strapped to his leg.

Finding himself in an outdoor market, Shippou looked around. There were all sorts of different kinds of fruits he had never seen before on sale all around him. Eyes shining, Shippou examined each exotic fruit in each stall with a curious eye. He saw fruit with spikes, with strange bumps, and fuzzy hairs. He saw fruit of different mixtures of colors.

Curiously, Shippou reached out his hand to feel the texture of a small fruit with green skin and fuzzy brown hairs. He jumped in fright when a larger hand snatched his by the wrist and held it in a tight grip.

"Thinking of stealing, were we?" said a suspicious voice.

Shippou looked up and saw the vendor that was manning the stall he was at. He was a beefy man with tiny pig's eyes that glittered with suspicion.

"N-nani?" stuttered Shippou, confused.

"Don't try to lie, you little worm! You were trying to steal my prized kiwis, weren't you!" demanded the vendor.

"Iie! I just wanted to touch it! I haven't seen one of those before!" protested Shippou, wishing the man would let go of his wrist; it was starting to really hurt.

"Lies! You're all the same, you little street gaki!" said the man, leaning in close to Shippou's face.

His breath smelled like tobacco, which Shippou didn't especially like.

"Let go of me, you crazy jii-san!" hollered Shippou, trying to yank his hand out of the grasp of the vendor's.

The sound of his voice alerted the other vendors in the vicinity. Some rolled their eyes and went back to work, while some glared at the vendor that had Shippou captive.

"Let him go, Miyazaki. He's just a little kid," said one of the glaring vendors.

"Didn't you see? He was trying to steal my precious fruit!" cried 'Miyazaki', his beady eyes shifting back and forth between the glaring vendors.

Shippou realized that the man really _was_ crazy; he obviously had paranoia.

'_Probably from too many kids trying to steal from his stall,_' thought Shippou, sweatdropping.

Miyazaki's grip on his wrist became tighter, causing Shippou to yelp.

"You're hurting me! Let go!" yelled Shippou, still trying to tug his hand out of Miyazaki's vice-like grip.

"No way! I'm going to take you to the big, bad ninja! They'll decide your punishment!" said Miyazaki evilly.

'_Is he trying to scare me?_' wondered Shippou.

"Baka! I'm training to _become_ a ninja!" he yelled at the man.

Miyazaki guffawed and said, "Nani? A little shrimp like you?"

Turning to the rest of the market, he loudly, "Hey, look, everyone! It's the world's smallest ninja!"

The people in market, vendors and customers, all stared or glared.

"That's it!" said Shippou angrily.

He dug his hand into his pocket and grabbed one of the various bombs in his pocket; he didn't know what kind it was. Taking it out, he threw it at the ground, hard. There was a huge puff of smoke, causing Miyazaki to stumble back with fright and coughing. He let go of Shippou's wrist, causing the boy to fall backwards; Shippou had still been trying to tug his hand free. Once the smoke had faded, a voice called out.

"What's going on here!" said the voice, a commanding female voice.

Everyone turned to look at the owner of the voice. Some stared with awe or fear, while some shrugged; the person was a regular customer. Shippou stared at the intimidating woman in her long, tan-yellow coat. She was holding a large brown sack full of produce, but she still managed to look scary.

"A-anko-s-san!" stuttered Miyazaki, trying to regain his composure.

"Must I ask again? What…is…going…on…here?" repeated Anko slowly.

"Well, you see," began Miyazaki, "this gaki here was trying to steal my–"

"You liar!" interjected Shippou, standing and pointing at Miyazaki, "I was just trying to feel one of the fruit! I haven't seen it before!"

Anko looked at Miyazaki sharply, who cowered before her gaze.

"Who will vouch for the boy?" she asked the market.

Hesitantly, most of the hands in the market rose.

"Sou ka… Miyazaki!" said Anko, looking at the vendor sharply.

"H-hai, Anko-s-san!" said the man, sweating profusely.

"If I hear that you've been bullying young children again, I'll have you arrested. Is that clear?" said Anko severely.

"H-hai, Anko-san!"

He looked around at the other vendors, and some of them grinned evilly at him. He gave a squeak of fright.

"Are you alright?" Anko asked Shippou.

"Hai, oku-san (lady, miss)," said Shippou shakily.

He bowed like Kagome had taught him and said, "Arigatou gozaimasu, for helping me."

"It's alright. I'm a shinobi; it's my job," said Anko, grinning.

Shippou couldn't help but smile a little back. He looked down at his bruising wrist and glared at Miyazaki.

"You just wait!" he yelled as he pointed at the vendor, "My aneki's (sister's) going to kick your ass!"

He pulled down an eyelid and stuck out his tongue. Then he ran off, laughing with glee at the thought of Miyazaki getting what was coming to him by Kagome.

Anko watched him go, amused by his actions. Then she noticed the crescent moon symbol on the back of his shirt.

'_That symbol… Could his aneki be…?_' she thought.

She glanced at a trembling Miyazaki, and smirked, causing the vendor to jump.

'_In that case, Miyazaki's going to get his ass whooped._'

-o-o-o-

Kagome stared up at the large cliff, her eyebrow twitching with frustration and anger. She looked down at Pakkun, who just looked blankly at her.

"Your summoner…" began Kagome slowly, "is…up…_there_?"

She pointed at the cliff in the process.

"Un. He's at the very top," said the pug.

'_At least I know the _gender_ of his summoner,_' thought Kagome, sweatdropping.

Kagome clapped her hands together and said, "Yoshi! I can climb that using chakra on the bottom of my feet and on the palms of my hands."

She made as if to start climbing up, but Pakkun spoke up.

"Matte," he said.

"What now?" asked Kagome angrily.

"My summoner wants you to climb the cliff with one hand tied behind your back. Also, I need to be carried up, too."

Kagome stared at Pakkun uncomprehendingly.

Then she said, "NANI? He expects me to do _that_?"

"Hai," said Pakkun.

"I'm _so_ out of here!" said Kagome, "I am _not_ going to risk my life for someone I don't even know!"

She started to walk off, and yelped when Pakkun latched onto her leg with his teeth.

"Y-you really bit me!" she exclaimed, trying to shake him off.

"I said I would," said Pakkun, though it was horribly muffled.

"Fine! I'll climb up! But I have to put you in my pack if you want a ride up!" said Kagome, pouting even though Pakkun was still attached to her leg.

"Good."

Kagome waited for Pakkun to let go of her leg and back away, but he didn't.

After a few seconds, she scratched her head and said, "Ano… Are you planning to ride up like that? Because that might make things difficult for me."

"Gomen," said the pug, removing his mouth from her leg.

He licked at the tiny puncture wounds he had put in her leg, causing Kagome to wince.

"You taste good," he said.

Rolling her eyes, Kagome said sarcastically, "That's nice. Please refrain from taking a chunk out of my leg."

-o-o-o-

Touran was sunning herself in the street. The Tsukikage had put her and Shuuran on vacation until the Third Exam, but Touran found that vacation was not all that it was cracked up to be. She was very bored, though that couldn't be said for Shuuran, who was running around the village like a chicken with its head cut off. Despite his brutish appearance, Shuuran could be very childlike sometimes.

She cracked open an eye when the bell above the door to the shop Shuuran was in jingled.

"Look at this, nee-san!" said Shuuran, running up to his older sister with something in his hands.

"What are you, five?" asked Touran, sighing at him.

"Iie, really! Look at this cool rock that I bought for Shunran!" said Shuuran, holding up the object in his hand for Touran to see.

Touran peered at it with disinterest, and then did a double-take. She stared at the small white stone in her brother's hand, which shimmered with different colors of green, red, and sometimes blue. Inside of the stone, if caught in the right light, she saw that it looked like it had a dull fire burning in it.

"Nan desu ka?" said Touran with wonder.

"The onna I bought it from said it was called a 'opaaru (opal)'!"

"'Opaaru'?" repeated Touran.

"Un! She also said that because they range from three to twenty percent in water content, they appear translucent when put in water!" said Shuuran excitedly.

"Sou ka?" said Touran thoughtfully.

They both stared at the opal for a few seconds.

"Shuuran…" began Touran slowly in a tone that made her sibling panic, "how much did you pay for this?"

-o-o-o-

Shippou, having successfully escaped from the outside market, found himself on a street with a pale yellow store. He stopped and looked up at the store's sign, curious. The sign said 'Hana Yamanaka'.

'_Hana? I wonder if they have the type of hana that Kagome-nee-chan likes,_' thought Shippou as he walked into the shop.

Almost instantly, he was hit by the pleasant aroma of flowers. Underneath that he could smell the bitter odor that most plants gave off when cut. It was also cooler in the shop, but not so much that the flowers would die, Shippou supposed. As he came in, he heard two female voices arguing.

"You've been coming in every single day, Sakura! Are you getting lonely without Sasuke-kun to paw over?" said one voice mockingly.

"Urusai! I come in here because I feel like it!" said a second voice angrily.

Shippou saw the owners of the voices and paused. Both were preteen girls, yet they couldn't look more different. One had short, bubblegum-pink hair, while the other's hair was like corn silk and tied back in an odango (bun). The pink girl's eyes were bright green, and she was wearing a darker pink china dress. The blonde girl's eyes were blue with no pupils, and she was wearing either dark violet or indigo clothing with an apron.

The blonde girl noticed Shippou and smiled.

"Hello, there! Welcome to Hana Yamanaka!" she said.

The pink-haired girl grunted in surprise and turned around to look at Shippou.

"Konnichiwa!" said Shippou brightly.

"And what can I do for you today?" asked the blonde girl, coming out from behind the counter.

"I just wanted to look. My aneki likes flowers," said Shippou.

"She does? Does she have a favorite?" asked the blonde girl.

"Un! She says she likes ayame (5) best!" chirped Shippou.

"Ayame? That grows wild, doesn't it?" said the pink-haired girl.

The blonde girl shot a dirty look at the other.

"That's one of the reasons why she likes it! She says she always looks forward to it blooming," said Shippou.

"What's your favorite hana?" asked the blonde.

"Eto…" said Shippou, looking up and putting a finger on his chin, "I think I like sakura the best."

"What a coincidence! My name's Sakura!" said the pink-haired girl.

"And I'm Ino," said the blonde, shooting 'Sakura' a dirty look with a warning in her voice.

"I'm Shippou!" said the redheaded boy.

"You're so kawaii, Shippou-chan!" said Sakura.

"Arigatou," said Shippou, blushing a little, "My aneki always says so."

"What's your aneki like, Shippou-chan? You sound like you adore her very much," asked Ino.

"I do! She's the nicest person in the whole wide world!" said Shippou.

"But what is she like?" Sakura asked.

"Well, she's very pretty. She doesn't think so, but a lot of people do. She always helps out with my training, and lets me watch when she trains, too."

"Training? Is your aneki a kunoichi?" asked Ino.

"Un! She also tells me a bedtime story whenever I ask her, no matter how tired she is! I try to not ask her whenever she comes back from a mission looking _really_ tired," said Shippou.

"That's sweet of you," said Ino, smiling.

"But she can also be stern sometimes. She always scolds me whenever I've done something she told me not to do. Everyone is scared of her when she gets angry," said Shippou, shuddering.

'"_Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned",_' went through the minds of the two girls.

"What's your aneki's name?" asked Ino.

"Kagome," said Shippou.

Both Sakura and Ino caught their breath and froze. They looked at each other. Was it just a coincidence?

"Ano… What's her _full_ name?" asked Ino nervously.

"Higurashi-Taishou Kagome. She has a third name because she's adopted into the Taishou clan, just like me," said Shippou.

He blinked; Sakura and Ino were staring at him.

"No way! That girl can't possibly be like that!" Sakura burst out.

"Eh? You've met Kagome-nee-chan?" asked Shippou curiously, "That means you were in the Chuunin Selection Exam this year, ne?"

"U-un," said Sakura.

"Kagome-nee-chan is nice, isn't she? She tries to be nice to everyone, but if they've given her a reason to dislike them, she won't act friendly around them. Sometimes the reason isn't very obvious," said Shippou, rocking back and forth with his hands behind his back.

"S-sou ka?" asked Ino.

"Well, it was nice meeting you, Ino-san, Sakura-san! I have to explore this entire village before the Third Exam arrives! I promised myself that I would!" said Shippou, smiling and bowing.

"It was nice meeting you too, Shippou-chan!" Ino called after him as he walked out the door.

Ino and Sakura looked at each other.

"He seems to look up to that girl very much," mused Ino out loud.

"Do you think that maybe she's duping them all? Her teammates, sensei, and everyone else? Maybe she's really cruel on the inside," said Sakura.

"I don't know."

-o-o-o-

Climbing up a cliff one-handed, Kagome found, was very difficult. She was halfway to the top, and it had already taken her an hour to get that far. Pakkun seemed to enjoy the ride up in her pack, his head sticking out of it with his ears blown back in the breeze (6).

"I sure hope your summoner has a good reason to get me to climb up with only one hand. Otherwise, I might have to kick his ass," Kagome panted as she grabbed another handhold on the side of the cliff.

"I very much doubt that you could," said Pakkun.

"I can always try," muttered Kagome.

Kagome inched along the side of the cliff with her tippy-toes. At her feet, she saw where some rocks had collapsed recently, meaning that someone _was_ or _had been_ up on the cliff. She kept an eye on the ledge in case it collapsed underneath her.

Truth be told, Kagome was itching with curiosity to see who wanted her up on the cliff. Had she met them before? Or had she merely seen them at one point? She knew that Pakkun wasn't lying about Orochimaru, because the scent on his fur besides his own wasn't that sickly sweet smell that that snake bastard had. Instead, it was more like pine or sage, both being smells that Kagome found pleasant. The smell was familiar, but she couldn't place whom it belonged to.

'_Keh, it'd better not be some pedophile or something that brought me all the way up here to molest me. That would be really dumb,_' thought Kagome.

"You're almost there," Pakkun's voice said in her ear, making her jump.

She almost lost her hold on the cliff, making cold adrenaline pump out from near her kidneys (7). Feeling it rush through her body, she took in a couple of deep breaths.

"Don't do that!" she hissed at the pug, who flattened his ears against his head.

"Gomen," he said, and Kagome smiled a little.

"It's okay, just don't speak so close to my ear," she reassured the little ninken.

Kagome saw that Pakkun was right. She could see the edge of the cliff just ahead of her, which filled her with determination. Even though her arm and hand felt like they were going to fall off, she ignored the pain they were sending out and forced herself to move faster.

'_Almost there…_' thought Kagome, the edge of the cliff almost level with her eyes.

Taking a deep breath, she poked her head above the edge so that if someone had seen her, the top half of her head could be seen. Her narrowed eyes slowly as she looked around suspiciously, but there was a big pile of boulders blocking her way about five feet from the cliff. She couldn't hear anything either; there was a nice breeze blowing and whistling in her ears.

"Are you going to go all the way up or are you going to just hang here all day?" asked Pakkun sarcastically.

"Grouch," Kagome muttered, and with one last heave, she flopped up on the edge of the cliff.

She lay there on her side and panted. She clenched and unclenched her fingers of her poor hand so that they wouldn't cramp. The hand tied securely behind her back had gone asleep a long time ago.

"Can…can you untie me now?" she panted, sitting up and shrugging off her pack so that Pakkun could get out safely.

The pug wiggled out of the hole in the bag and shook himself. His jowls flopped around a little, making Kagome snort softly with laughter.

"Your bag smells nice," commented Pakkun.

"I suppose because it smells like me?" Kagome asked sarcastically.

"Un," said Pakkun, making Kagome twitch with irritation; she was tired of hearing how good she smelled.

Pakkun walked behind her and delicately pulled at the rope tying her arm back with his teeth; the knot that had been used enabled it to be untied easily with just a tug. As soon as the rope slid away, Kagome pulled her arm out from behind her back, hearing her shoulder joint pop in the process. She winced as the blood began rushing back into her arm, making painful pins and needles go through it. The feeling was almost like an itch you couldn't scratch.

Once the tingling feeling went mostly away, Kagome stuffed the rope back into her pack and put the pack back on. She stood and dusted herself off.

"Yoshi. Take me to whoever summoned you," she said.

She nearly rolled her eyes when Pakkun simply turned and began walking away. For such a small dog, he walked pretty fast, so Kagome had to stretch her legs to keep up with him. They passed more boulders and Kagome began hearing the sounds of kunai and shuriken clashing.

'_So someone _is_ up here,_' she mused.

They went around the corner of a pile of boulders, revealing a clearing without boulders in the center of the top of the cliff. Two people were clashing with what appeared to be kunai, but it was hard to tell because they were moving so fast.

"I brought the girl like you asked, Kakashi," called Pakkun to one of the people.

'_Nani?_' thought Kagome.

The two people stopped fighting and landed opposite of each other. Kagome saw a tall man with gravity-defying silver hair, and a preteen boy with spiky black hair.

"You're…" said Kagome with shock, lifting up a finger to point at the silver-haired man shakily.

No wonder the pine/sage scent on Pakkun's fur smelled familiar. This man had been standing behind her the whole time she had gone over to Naruto's side of the auditorium during the preliminary matches.

"Yo, Higurashi-chan," said Kakashi, raising a hand in greeting, his visible eye making an upside down 'U'

"YOU? YOU MADE A NINKEN BLACKMAIL ME AND THEN YOU MAKE ME CLIMB UP A CLIFF WITH ONLY ONE HAND?" yelled Kagome, pointing at the silver-haired Jounin.

"It was a good training exercise, ne?" asked Kakashi, still seeming to smile.

Kagome's jaw worked up and down angrily, but she couldn't think of anything to say in retaliation. She finally settled with scrunching her mouth up at him and crossing her arms in front of her angrily.

Sasuke was downright glaring at Kagome, but he was also trying to glare at his sensei in the process.

"What is the meaning of this, Kakashi?" he demanded.

"You weren't paying attention when I was training you. So I asked Pakkun here to bring the source of your distraction. Have fun sorting out your differences!" said Kakashi, giving the two adolescents a wave and starting to walk away.

"Chotto matte!" Kagome called after him, "You want me to fight this pansy-ass pretty boy here?"

She pointed at Sasuke, who glared murderously at her.

'_"Pansy-ass pretty boy"?_' he thought, a tick mark appearing on his forehead.

"And what do you mean by 'distraction'? Oi! Oi!" Kagome continued to yell at Kakashi.

Kakashi didn't even turn and answer her. He kept walking away silently.

"Did it even _occur_ to you that I had my _own_ training?" Kagome yelled after him.

Kakashi finally stopped and turned. He was still doing his 'U' eye smile.

"I'd pay attention. Sasuke seems eager to fight you," he said friendlily.

"Na–!" began Kagome, turning and barely dodging a couple of kunai.

She flipped backwards to avoid them and glared at Sasuke. She also saw that his eyes were red.

'_So he does have that Sharingan-thingy. It's a lot plainer than mine. He didn't use it during the preliminaries, probably because of that _thing_ on his neck,_' thought Kagome, her gaze wandering towards Sasuke's left junction of his neck and shoulder.

'_But it's got a fuuin (seal) on it now. Did he do it…?_' Kagome wondered, glancing towards Kakashi, who had found himself a standing spot on a nearby boulder.

"Oi, jii-san!" Kagome called to the silver-haired man.

"Jii-san?" said Kakashi, "I'm not old!"

"You certainly look it with that hair! You probably wear that mask to hide how old and ugly you are!" Kagome teased, earning an eyebrow twitch from the Jounin.

'_He's probably a hunk under that mask,_' thought another part of Kagome, which she shook off.

"Anyway, after I kick this gaki's ass, I'm going to kick yours!" Kagome yelled, shaking her fist at Kakashi.

"Oh?" said Kakashi, amused.

Pakkun, who had taken a seat beside Kakashi on the boulder, spoke up.

"She'll try," said the pug.

'_And you've know her _how many_ hours?_' Kakashi thought sarcastically.

"Yoshi! Uchiha Sasuke!" Kagome yelled, turning and pointing at the boy, "I'm not going to go easy on you!"

"You sound like Naruto. You're probably as weak as he is," said Sasuke.

"Baka yarou! He's just a little slower in development than you are!" Kagome yelled.

"Urusai! You show up here in my village and show off that fake Sharingan! I'll show you the _true_ power of a real Sharingan!" said Sasuke, whipping out a couple of kunai.

"Bring it on, pretty boy!" said Kagome, smirking and getting into a defensive stance.

She closed her eyes and summoned chakra into them. Feeling her Sharingan activate, she reopened them. Sasuke gritted his teeth at the color of her eyes.

'_She's nothing more than a pretender! I'll show her what a weakling she is compared to me!_' he thought.

He moved deeper into a defensive posture as Kagome began making hand seals.

'_I (Boar), Inu, Tori (Bird), Saru (Monkey), Hitsuji (Ram)!_' Kagome recited in her head as she made each hand seal.

Kakashi leaned forward a little, thinking, '_That's…!_'

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" yelled Kagome, slamming her right hand to the ground.

There was a momentary glimpse of a huge seal on the ground, and there was a large puff of smoke. There was enough smoke that it blew into Sasuke's eyes, and made him have to shield them.

'_Nani? A summoning jutsu? What did she–!_' he thought, and froze when he caught sight of what Kagome had summoned.

The dog was easily as big as the largest horse ever born. He was pure white with long silky hair streaming from above all four paws and had a long tail that swished with long strands of hair. The dog's ears were long and perked up slightly on the head and then flopped over. Its head was strangely-shaped, almost reptilian in structure, and its eyes were dark gold in color. Sasuke shuddered when he saw the dog yawn and show off its dagger-like teeth (8).

'_This girl continues to surprise me,_' thought Kakashi, sweatdropping while Pakkun bristled a little at the appearance of the huge dog.

Shaking himself, the dog stretched and got up out of his laid out position.

Looking down at Kagome, he said in a deep baritone, "Do you have a good excuse for waking me from my nap, Kagome-nee-san?"

"Hiya, Shiromaru-kun!" Kagome said, smiling and waving up at him happily.

'Shiromaru' rolled his eyes and said, "What do you want, Kagome-nee-san?"

"I want to challenge you to a race!" said Kagome, smiling.

"A race?" asked Shiromaru, his ears perking up a little.

"Un! The first one to knock _that _guy out," said Kagome, pointing at Sasuke, "will win. How about it?"

Shiromaru scratched at an ear with one of his hind feet.

"Maa, I'll do it. Just let me take a nap afterwards," he said, crouching as if he were about to spring at Sasuke.

"You got it!" said Kagome, "Ready…set…GO!"

Sasuke, who had realized he was in deep shit for the last couple of minutes, broke out in a cold sweat as he saw Kagome and Shiromaru race towards him. With his Sharingan, he saw the first attack coming and dodged out of the way just in time as the huge white dog snapped at him with his huge jaws.

"I said 'knock him out', not 'bite him in half'!" Kagome chided.

Shiromaru appeared to grin at her and increased his speed. Sensing the competition, Kagome did as well. Kakashi, meanwhile, was beginning to wonder if bringing Higurashi Kagome to beat some sense into Sasuke had been the best idea. Not only was she effortlessly tiring the boy out, but she had also turned what she was doing into a game. _And_ summoned a huge ninken, to boot.

'_I don't know who I want to knock Sasuke out more, her or the ninken. It's a hard choice either way,_' thought Kakashi, sweatdropping.

A cloud of dust erupted as Sasuke narrowly dodged another attack. Bits of boulder and other debris flew through the air as Kagome hit the spot where he had been before.

"What's wrong, pretty boy?" Kagome called out to him mockingly, "I thought you were going to show me the _true_ power of your Sharingan?"

Gritting his teeth, Sasuke thought, '_Chikushou! She and that inu are moving too fast for me to give a counterattack!_'

As he dodged a swipe that Shiromaru sent his way, he began making hand seals in a last desperate attempt to get himself out of the mess that he had created for himself.

"Katon: Housenka no Jutsu!" he yelled as he made the last hand seal, which was 'Tora'.

He began spitting fireballs whichever direction he was able. He didn't know which way to get a hit on either of his opponents, since they appeared and reappeared like wraiths in front of him. All he hoped was that he managed to land at least one crippling hit that would give him enough time to get away.

"Nice try," whispered Kagome's voice right in his ear.

Sasuke tried to whirl around, but Kagome dug her thumb into the hollow at the back of the base of his neck, which was where a pressure point was located. His eyes rolled up in his head and his world went dark. Kagome caught his limp body as it fell.

"I won, Shiromaru-kun!" she called to the ninken cheerfully.

Shiromaru merely snorted and lay down on the ground. He rested his head on his paws and closed his eyes.

"You're no fun," Kagome grumbled as she laid Sasuke's body down.

Shiromaru cracked open an eye and said, "I need my beauty sleep."

Kagome rolled her eyes and looked over towards Kakashi and Pakkun.

"Oi, jii-san! Can I go now?" she called over to Kakashi.

"Iie," said Kakashi simply, stepping down from his boulder.

"Why not?" Kagome demanded angrily.

"I need _you_ to help me train _him_," said Kakashi, looking down at Sasuke's prone body.

"Nani? You want me to train this selfish brat?" Kagome cried with disbelief.

"I only need your time for the rest of today and tomorrow. Then you are free to go. Got it?" said Kakashi.

"Fine, jii-san," muttered Kagome.

"And stop calling me jii-san. I'm not even thirty yet."

"Says you," said Kagome out of the corner of her mouth.

Kakashi sighed; he could tell this was going to be a long day.

-o-o-o-

Touran and Shuuran watched the opal sink slowly into the glass of water. It hit the bottom with a 'click' and lay there like the stone it was. They squinted at it for a second, trying to see if what the woman that had sold the opal was true.

Taking the glass away from Shuuran's gaze, Touran held it up into the afternoon light. She squinted at the opal and then swung back around angrily towards her brother.

"Hora! You spent a _thousand_ ryou on a _fake_ stone?" she said.

"Nani? Give me that!" said Shuuran, grabbing the glass and proceeding to do the same as his sister.

Just like Touran, he peered up at the stone in the sunlight.

"I can see through it! That means the onna was right!" he said.

"You could see through _any_ opaque stone if you held it up to the light!" retorted Touran.

"Then how did you deduce that this was a fake?" roared Shuuran.

"I just know! Call it a female's intuition!" said Touran angrily.

"Fake or not, I'm giving it to Shunran!"

"She'll see through it right away! You know how good she is with organic things! Just go back to that cheat of an onna and demand your money back!" cried Touran.

"No way!"

And as the argument went back and forth, passersby stopped to stare. One of them happened to be Shippou, who was on his way back to the quarters he shared with Kagome's team. Shaking his head and sticking his hands into his pockets, he sighed and continued along his way.

'_They argue like they're married or something,_' he thought.

-o-o-o-

"What the hell happened to you?" asked InuYasha, once he had stepped into their current living quarters and seen Miroku.

The houshi was sporting a black eye.

Miroku smiled nervously and said, "I tripped."

"Uh-huh. Did the ground suddenly decide to form itself into a Teme-sama-sized fist and jump up to meet your eye?" asked InuYasha, noticing the size and shape of the bruise.

"It wasn't his fist! It was his elbow!" burst out Miroku, and then realized what he had said.

"So, what did you do to piss off the almighty Teme-sama?" asked InuYasha.

"I made fun of him, and he didn't like it," said Miroku, shrugging his shoulders.

"Matte, back up a bit," said InuYasha, "You _made fun_ of Sesshoumaru, and he _actually_ retaliated?"

"What about it?" asked Miroku, wondering why InuYasha sounded so amazed.

"Taku, what the hell did you make fun of? Sesshoumaru usually ignores anyone that makes fun of him," said InuYasha.

"I can't tell you," said Miroku.

"And why not?" asked InuYasha with irritation.

"Because he gave me this," said Miroku, pointing at his black eye, "and threatened that he would make life very difficult for me if I told anyone."

"Huh."

-o-o-o-

Sasuke woke to the smell of something delicious. At first, all he could do was hear and smell. Once in a while, a distorted voice was heard. Then slowly he opened his eyes. He immediately shut them, because the blaze of a campfire caused his head to throb with pain. He groaned as another stab of pain went through his skull.

"Great… He's awake," said a dejected feminine voice.

Sasuke realized with dismay that it was that _girl's_ voice. What was she still doing here? Forcing his eyes open, Sasuke realized that he was lying on his back on the ground. The crackling of fire on wood alerted him to the campfire. Turning his head despite the pain, he saw that there was a decent-sized campfire to his right. He blinked; there was pot resting over the flames, sitting on a stone slab over the center of the fire. The pot was the source of the delicious aroma, and Sasuke could hear something bubbling inside of it.

The sound of tiny pads alerted Sasuke that something was approaching him. He blinked again when the tiny ninken pug that belonged to Kakashi walked up to him. The pug merely stared at him for a second.

Then it finally said, "Hm. I'd better go tell Kakashi that you're awake."

The pug walked off as quickly as it had come. A few seconds later, Kakashi's sandaled feet appeared. Sasuke tried to crane his neck to look up at his sensei's face, but a bruised feeling came from the bottom the back of his neck and prevented him from doing so. Not wanting his sensei to think he was weak, Sasuke tried to push himself up using his elbows. He nearly fell back when he felt Kakashi's hands on his shoulders, helping him sit upright.

"Don't try to move your neck. She hit you on the pressure point on the back of it, so it'll hurt for a little while," came Kakashi's voice behind him.

Turning his body, Sasuke caught the gaze of Kagome from across the campfire. She was leaning against the solid body of Shiromaru, and was heatedly glaring at him. Sasuke glared right back at her.

Kakashi silently sighed and thought, '_He just woke up and they're already at it again. If these two turn out to be related in some way, I wouldn't be surprised. I'm already positive they are._'

Trying to break the tension, Kakashi turned to Kagome and asked, "When will the food be ready?"

"In about ten more minutes," said Kagome, still glaring at Sasuke.

Sasuke, however, was curious to see what was in the pot on the fire. He leaned forward a little and stared. The delicious smell was coming from ramen. His mouth couldn't help but water at how good it smelled. Then he wondered where the pot and the other things had come from; there were bowls and chopsticks sitting nearby on a short boulder.

"Where did…?" he asked.

"None of your business," Kagome answered him; it was surprising she answered him at all.

"She had her ninken go back to his place and get the materials she needed," Kakashi answered, giving Kagome a warning look.

"I really wish you would quit using my living quarters to store your ramen stuff. It's getting annoying," said Shiromaru, who had his eyes closed.

"I totally forgot about it until I summoned you. If I had remembered I would have eaten some of it days ago," said Kagome with irritation.

Kakashi seated himself near Sasuke. Pakkun, who had stayed close to him until now, wandered over to Kagome. The pug sat down in front of her and stared up at her.

"Hai?" asked Kagome.

"I have an itch behind my ear," said Pakkun.

'_He just wants to be scratched,_' both Kagome and Kakashi thought.

As Kagome began scratching Pakkun's ears, Kakashi felt irked. Pakkun was his ninken that he had raised from a pup, and yet Pakkun wanted a girl he had just met to pet him instead. He had not sent Pakkun back to his place of summoning because the ninken had appeared to enjoy the company of the girl, but he hadn't known how much.

Shiromaru gave a deep growl, causing everyone except Kagome to look at him.

"You'll get your turn. You get _so_ jealous when I'm petting someone else," Kagome told the large ninken.

Whining, Shiromaru put his head down on his paws. Everything was quiet and normal, if Sasuke and Kagome swapping glares were considered normal. Suddenly, Kagome stood up and grabbed a long bough of wood that had a notch carved into it at the end. Just as Sasuke wondered if she was going to try and beat him up with it, Kagome used the bough to hook the handle of the pot into the notch. Carefully, Kagome set the pot down on the ground. Then she proceeded in taking the slab of stone out of the fire.

A thin sheet of ice crept up Kagome's arm. After it fully encased her arm and hand, she simply placed her hand into the fire. Sasuke's eyes nearly popped out of his head, and Kakashi wondered if she was crazy. But Kagome didn't appear to be in pain. As quick as a flash, steam rising all around her arm and hand, she pulled out the slab of stone. She flung the stone onto the ground, and the remaining ice encasing her arm and hand evaporated. But the bandages that wrapped up her arm, which happened to be her right, were soaked through.

"Kuso," muttered Kagome, and unwound the wet bandages.

Once they were off, Kagome began using a ladle to put the ramen into bowls. One of the bowls in particular was like a punch bowl. Since the pot was pretty big and deep, there were still leftovers even after filling all the bowls. Kagome carried the huge bowl over to Shiromaru and placed it in front of him. Then she placed one in front of Pakkun, handed one with a pair of chopsticks to Kakashi, and then sullenly handed one, with chopsticks as well, to Sasuke. Then she got her own bowl and sat down where she had been before.

"Itadakimasu!" she said, clapping her hands together.

Then she picked up her chopsticks and began eating her ramen like there was no tomorrow. Sasuke stared at her arm, which had a long, sinuous tattoo on it. It looked familiar and he wondered where he had seen it before. Then it hit him; during Kagome's preliminary match, the tattoo had appeared out of the ice and molded into her skin again.

He snapped out of his thoughts when Kagome, not looking up, said, "It's rude to stare."

"It's also rude to talk with your mouth full," retorted Sasuke.

"Why aren't you eating, chicken boy?" asked Kagome, ignoring him and swallowing.

"I am _not_ afraid!" said Sasuke angrily.

"I'm not referring to your behavior, baka. I'm talking about your hair," said Kagome, rolling her eyes.

"My hair?" said Sasuke.

"Un. If you look at from this angle," said Kagome, leaning to the side, "it looks like a chicken's rear end."

"It does _not_ look like a chicken's–!" began Sasuke, standing up.

"Sit down, Sasuke. She's just screwing with you," said Kakashi, "Taku, you let her get to you so easily."

"And what about you? You aren't eating either," Kagome grumped.

"Iie. I've already eaten mine. Hora?" said Kakashi, picking up his bowl and showing her that it was empty.

"Nani?" said Kagome, staring at the empty bowl.

She looked back and forth between the bowl and Kakashi's face. Understanding dawned on her face.

"Ah ha!" she said, pointing at Kakashi.

Kakashi experienced a moment of déjà vu.

"You ate it all when I was arguing with him!" said Kagome, now pointing at Sasuke, "You don't want us to see your face, because you don't want anyone seeing how old and ugly you are!"

"I'm not old or ugly," said Kakashi defensively.

"Shiromaru-kun, did you see his face?" asked Kagome, looking up at the big dog.

Shiromaru, who had finished eating pretty quickly and now had his head on his paws, cracked open an eye.

"Hm?" he said.

"You're impossible," Kagome told him, and turned to Pakkun.

She decided against asking the pug, since he was Kakashi's ninken and wouldn't cough up any secrets. Sasuke, who decided to try the ramen, took a cautious bite. Flavor spread over his tongue, and he instantly fell in love with it. He began eating it at pace that almost matched Naruto's. Kagome raised an eyebrow at him, and then just shook her head.

"That tattoo on your arm… What is it for?" asked Kakashi.

"For fighting. You should have seen it during my first preliminary match," answered Kagome between bites.

"That's what came out of the hyou?" asked Kakashi.

"Un. This tattoo is called Fukurou (Owl). She uses her talons to carve channels underneath the hyou that will allow reiki to easily pass through it. But she has to carve at a high pace, so that uses up a lot of my reiki. You can see the channels if the hyou is clear, but if the surface is scarred…"

"Ah. All your other attacks were just decoys that helped cover the surface of the hyou," said Kakashi, understanding now.

"Sou. And the carved calligraphy is used the same way symbols are used during sealing or summoning. It just specifies what should be done," explained Kagome.

"Matte. You said 'reiki'. That's impossible; only people from myths could use it," said Sasuke.

"Then what do you call this, chicken boy?" asked Kagome, holding up a hand.

Instantly, a blue fire erupted around her hand, making Sasuke jump.

Extinguishing the fire, Kagome said, "Reiki is lighter than chakra, therefore you cannot see it normally even when there are high concentrations of it. But it uses a different system than chakra does, and only when it is needed, it mixes with physical energy and creates chakra. Reiki comes out of the pores of the skin, and there are hundreds in just one hand. The friction caused by the reiki coming out of the pores makes it glow."

"If it causes friction, shouldn't it burn your hand?" asked Kakashi.

"Iie. But it does cause a tingling sensation all over it. Now, who wants seconds?" asked Kagome.

Sasuke wanted more, but he wasn't about to let her know. So he didn't say anything.

"Kakashi-san? Pakkun-san? Shiromaru-kun?" asked Kagome, and they shook their heads, with the exception of Shiromaru; he was asleep, or appeared to be.

"Yoshi! More for me!" said Kagome cheerfully.

She poured the remaining ramen into her bowl and began slurping it down. Sasuke and Kakashi watched in disbelief as the slurping got louder and louder.

'_She's worse than Naruto,_' thought Sasuke, sweatdropping.

'_No wonder she and Naruto get along. They have the same habits,_' thought Kakashi.

Out of the corner of her eye, Kagome saw a giant white paw coming her way. She narrowly jumped out of its path, but some of her ramen spilled in the process.

"Oi! Look what you made me do! What the hell was that for?" she said to Shiromaru, who was the owner of the paw.

Cracking open an eye again, Shiromaru said, "I just remembered. Your chichi-ue told me the last time I was summoned to try and make you more ladylike whenever I'm around. Slurping your food is _not_ considered ladylike."

"I don't wanna be a lady!" Kagome yelled.

"Then how are you going to find a husband to marry?"

"I don't wanna get married!"

"Then stop slurping. It's annoying."

"Fine," said Kagome, sitting down again, but in a different spot.

She took some ramen between her chopsticks and slurped loudly as she slowly sucked it down. This time, the slurping was both loud and prolonged. She repeated this process again, watching Shiromaru slyly out of the corner of her eye. Her eyes were sparkling mischievously.

'_If he doesn't kill her, I might,_' thought Kakashi, wincing as Kagome slurped some more ramen down.

'_Taku, this girl is annoying. Even more than Sakura, if that's possible,_' thought Sasuke as he winced, as well.

"That's it!" roared Shiromaru with irritation, standing up and darting at Kagome.

Laughing like there was no tomorrow, Kagome dodged him and ran away from the campsite with the bowl and chopsticks still in her hands. Shiromaru took off in hot pursuit. Kakashi sighed and Sasuke clenched his jaw. There were calls of 'You can't catch me!' and 'Oh, so close!' from Kagome, as well as slurping noises to egg Shiromaru on.

"She'd better be gone in the morning," muttered Sasuke.

'_Fat chance. She's staying all tomorrow, too,_' thought Kakashi.

-o-o-o-

It had finally quieted down, and Kakashi was keeping watch, despite being in a light sleep. Sasuke was sleeping on a sleeping bag near the campfire, and Kagome had gone off doze somewhere nearby with Shiromaru. She had claimed that she didn't want to be murdered in her sleep by Sasuke. Kakashi had sent Pakkun back to his home, though the pug had seemed a little glum about it.

A muffled noise jerked Kakashi awake. He was leaning against one of the boulders with his hands in his pockets. Looking around, he tried to identify the source of the noise. Sasuke was asleep, and the fire had burned low. Listening intently, Kakashi waited for the sound to come again. And it did.

Taking out a kunai, Kakashi crept into the darkness of the night. He followed the muffled sounds as they came and came again. He stopped when he saw Shiromaru's large form gleaming in the moonlight, despite being sheltered behind an alcove of boulders. The noises were coming from the small, dark object curled up next to the ninken.

Kakashi crept closer, but was stopped by a low, warning growl when he was about seven feet from Shiromaru. Now that his eye had adjusted to the darkness, Kakashi could just made out Kagome's form tossing and turning and clenching Shiromaru's silky fur tightly in her fists. Kakashi suspected that it was hurting the ninken. Lowering his kunai, he slipped it back into its pouch.

"She has nightmares," said Shiromaru quietly, answering the unspoken question that Kakashi had wanted to ask.

"How often does she have them?" he asked the ninken softly.

"Usually three or four times a week. It's rare that she only has one once every seven days," answered Shiromaru.

"Has she always had them?" asked Kakashi.

"Un. She never remembers the nightmares, but she knows when she's had them. Are you done now, or are you going to pry even more into her life?" asked the white ninken rudely.

'_He's got a point,_' thought Kakashi, sticking his hands into his pockets and walking away.

'_But she passed the test I gave her. I really doubted that she would be able to climb up that cliff one-handed. But she did, and carried Pakkun on her back, as well. I doubt even Sasuke could do it…_'

Kakashi walked back over to his spot against the boulder, and leaned against it.

'_Maybe I should take her on as a student after all…_'

_**Owari**_

-o-o-o-

**Omake: Sasuke Blooper**

"Yoshi! Uchiha Sasuke!" Kagome yelled, turning and pointing at the boy, "I'm not going to go easy on you!"

"You sound like Naruto. You're probably as weak as he is," said Sasuke.

"Baka yarou! He's just a little slower in development than you are!" Kagome yelled.

"Urusai! You show up here in my village and show off that fake Sharingan! I'll show you the _true_ power of a real Sharingan! By the pride of the Quincy, I will defeat you!" said Sasuke, whipping out a couple of kunai.

There was a long pause. The wind blew mournfully, and a cricket chirped.

Kagome turned to Kakashi and said, "Did he just say what I thought he said?"

Sasuke slapped himself on the forehead and said, "Chikushou! I got my roles mixed up!"

"Cut!" said the director, and people swarmed all over the set.

"We're in 'Naruto', not frickin' 'Bleach', baka!" said Kagome, punching Sasuke on the head. (9)

-o-o-o-

**Author's Notes**

(1) I got a dog bite once, but the dog didn't mean it. I was trying to break up a dogfight (stupid me), and the one that bit me was trying to fend the other dogs off. I ended up staying overnight at the hospital for two days because the bite got infected. Funnily enough, I saw my first Naruto episode on the TV in the hospital room. I instantly liked it ^.^

(2) His name means 'teacher of the leader'. I had to take a page out of Kishimoto Masashi's book

(3) Mikazuki means 'new moon' or 'crescent moon'

(4) For those of you who didn't get it, Miroku is saying that Sesshoumaru opened up his soul to him (Miroku)

(5) Did you know that _ayame_ is actually one of three types of Japanese irises? The types are called _hanashoubu_ ('blue flag flower', _Iris ensata var. ensata_), _kakitsubata _('young shrine grove', _Iris laevigata_), and _ayame _('cattail iris', _Iris sanguinea_). _Hanashoubu_ grows in wetlands and is cultivated the most. _Kakitsubata_ grows in semi-wet places and is cultivated second-most. _Ayame_ grows wild on dry land.

(6) Kind of like a dog sticking his head out a car window when the car is moving LOL ^o^

(7) Seriously, next time you get startled, you'll feel the adrenaline come from there. I guess that's where the adrenaline glands are located.

(8) Basically, the dog looks like Sesshoumaru when he's in his true youkai form. But there is no ruff coming from his chest to the back of his other shoulder, since that is the mokomoko (the furry boa thing) that Sesshoumaru carries around all the time. There is also no crescent moon, no other markings, no red eyes, and no poisonous saliva! And he's not as big as Sesshoumaru is when he's in his true youkai form…

(9) In case you didn't know, Uchiha Sasuke and Ishida Uryuu from 'Bleach' both have the same voice actor, Sugiyama Noriaki. Their voices are very alike, despite being different characters.

-o-o-o-

Once again, I'm really sorry about the delay. You can send me punches and kicks by reviewing!

Another site I'd recommend for finding J-Pop/J-Rock lyrics is:

**www . kiwi - musume . com / (Remove the spaces)**

I found out how to put URLs on this site, so I fixed my earlier site directions. But if you're lazy like I am about things, then I'll just repost them here:

**www . animelyrics . com / **

**www . saiga – jp . com / kanji _ dictionary . html**

Remember to review, so that I can get your punches and kicks for slow updating!


	17. Chapter XVI: Mangekyou

It's another late update. I've been spending a lot of my time this past week watching 'Futurama' on the computer. It's not my fault that that show is so damn addictive!

In order to not disturb my parents, I plug my IPod earphones into the computer, so my parents think I'm going crazy whenever I laugh out loud at 'Futurama', or any show they can't hear.

Disclaimer: Shh! Be vewy vewy quiet! I'm pwetending that I own InuYasha and Nawuto! ***sniper rifle zooms in on me*** I don't really! I don't claim any ownership! Please don't kill me!

"talking"

'_thinking_'

'**Bijuu talking to host**'

**Chapter Sixteen: Mangekyou**

-o-o-o-

Natsuhiboshi naze akai?  
Yuube kanashii yume wo mita  
Naite hanashita  
Akai me yo  
Natsuhiboshi naze mayou  
Kieta warashi wo sagashiteru  
Dakara kanashii yume wo miru

Summer day star, why is it red?  
Last night I had sad dreams  
Crying as I spoke  
With red eyes  
Summer day star, why is it lost?  
I'm searching for a child who vanished  
And so I will see sad dreams

~ 'Natsuhiboshi' (Naruto Insert Song)  
Fukami Rika

-o-o-o-

Dim light shone through Kagome's eyelids, making her open them slowly. For a moment, she wondered where she was, since she wasn't in her normal spot in the tree she had chosen to sleep in while she was training. Nor was she in her room back home in Tsuki no Kuni. Blinking blearily with confusion, Kagome looked around…and remembered.

'_Sou desu. That Pakkun inu led me up here yesterday, and that _man_ told me have to train that stupid Uchiha Sasuke,_' she thought.

Realizing she was leaning against something solid and fluffy, Kagome looked behind her, only to see a wall of white. She remembered that she had fallen asleep leaning against Shiromaru.

Kagome sighed and clenched and unclenched her hands. They had gotten a little cold during the night, so they were stiff. She looked down at her hands and yelped. They were dripping with blood.

She began blindly trying to wipe the blood off, scrambling at her hands. Panting, she realized that her hands were clean. Kagome blinked; she had imagined it? Then she remembered her nightmare from the night before and shivered; she had dreamed of blood coating her hands – they had been strangely tiny – and her hands had been clawed, like when she let Kawarubi take over her body.

Shuddering, Kagome stood and yawned. She stretched her arms over her head and then stretched her legs and back by trying to touch her toes. It was chilly, so she rubbed her arms to create warming friction. She walked silently away towards the edge of the cliff and watched the brightening sky.

-o-o-o-

Kakashi woke quite suddenly from his light sleep, and at first, he didn't know why. He didn't sense anything out of place. Looking down, he saw that Sasuke was still asleep on the ground next to the charred remains of the fire. He looked up to see the sky streaked with brilliant colors.

Pushing himself away from the boulder he was leaning against, he stretched his arms. Then he breathed in deeply through his nose, and paused. He sniffed a couple of times to verify if what he smelled was real.

With his keen nose, he was picking up a strong, overpowering scent. But it wasn't unpleasant. In fact, Kakashi couldn't get enough of it. It smelled of rain and something sweeter, perhaps honeysuckle. And underneath that was a subtler scent, a spicier scent that reminded one of cinnamon. Kakashi realized that he was taking in deep breaths, and that he was also getting dizzy from it. He had to force himself to quit breathing so much.

The scent was so familiar, though Kakashi was having trouble trying to remember where he had smelled it before. It was apparently affecting his brain's ability to function. And then it hit him; a month before, he had smelled it when he had gone with his team to walk some dogs for a client. And again, when…

Narrowing his eyes, Kakashi found that he knew the source of the smell. That girl. It was always that girl that was involved in something or another. And it was starting to tire Kakashi immensely. Fed up, Kakashi decided to investigate.

-o-o-o-

The sun wasn't up yet, but the sky was lightening with hues of pinks, purples and oranges. Reaching the edge of the cliff, Kagome looked down, instantly regretting it. Her vision swam before her eyes as she looked down the cliff to the ground. Adrenaline pumped and she backed away from the edge.

"I wonder how I'm going to get down…?" Kagome asked herself quietly, scratching her untidy head, "Maybe I should just use my jutsu to go into the void…"

She turned around and jumped; Kakashi was leaning against a nearby boulder and reading his Icha Icha Paradise book. Kagome wondered how he was able to read when the sun hadn't risen yet. Glaring at him, she began trying to stalk her way past him back to Shiromaru. When he didn't look up, she crossed her eyes and stuck out her tongue at him.

"Ohayou to you, too," said the silver-haired man, still not looking up at her.

"Ohayou gozaimasu," Kagome growled, and continued on her way.

As she passed him, she noticed him turn his head slightly away from her, as he smelled something he didn't like. She frowned at this, but went on her way. She kept walking until she reached Shiromaru.

The big dog was still asleep, apparently, so Kagome shrugged and decided to rummage around in her pack to see if she had any snacks. Shiromaru's ears twitched when he heard Kagome's hand rustling things inside her pack.

"Yatta!" said Kagome happily when her hand pulled out a bag of chips.

She opened them and began munching on the chips hungrily. Shiromaru opened his eyes and yawned. He stretched his front legs in front of him and then looked around at Kagome. Sniffing the air, he growled.

"What's the matter? Did you not catch the usagi (rabbit) in your dream or something?" asked Kagome playfully.

"You're in heat," Shiromaru growled lowly.

Kagome's hands dropped the bag of chips.

She looked at Shiromaru in alarm and said, "Are you sure?"

"Of course I'm sure! Your smell is so strong that it would attract inu within a ten-mile radius!" snapped Shiromaru.

'_Chikushou! What do I do?_' Kagome thought with panic.

She never knew when she was in heat unless a male with a superior sense of smell told her; she was unable to smell it herself, and neither were other females. Shiromaru was always irritable whenever he was around when Kagome was in heat, though he never said why. He was also overly-protective.

What Kagome hated about having her heat cycle was that she was forced to hole herself up in a room for the better part of a week. The smell affected those with keen sense of smell, but the pheromones that she was giving off also affected those who did not. It messed with their heads, apparently, and they swarmed to her like flies. It didn't affect every male that did not have a keen sense of smell, and if it did, it always varied on how much it affected the male in question. Shiromaru nearly tore the arm off of a man once when he had reached out and squeezed Kagome's butt as she passed him in the street.

'_Kami-sama, I'm begging you, please don't let these two males up on the cliff be attracted to me. Please, please, please!_' Kagome prayed, clutching her head.

She mentally cursed herself that she had allowed herself to be dragged off into no-man's land without letting anybody knowing where she was going. She had been so busy with her training that she had lost track of time, so her countdown to her heat cycle had been completely and utterly lost.

"Shiromaru-kun?" Kagome asked quietly, "What do I do?"

"_You_ will continue with this training thing you're going to do today. And _I_ will make sure that nobody tries to touch you in _that_ way," growled the big dog quietly.

He got up and shook himself, and then sat beside Kagome.

Looking down at her, he said, "If they do, I'll rip their arms off."

"That won't be necessary," said Kagome, sweatdropping, "Just knocking them out will do just fine."

Shiromaru 'hmphed' and said nothing. Kagome wondered about his desire to rip peoples' arms off, and if it was one of his goals in life.

"Ne, will you give me a chip?" asked the ninken suddenly.

Kagome looked doubtfully at the chip in her hand and said, "Are you sure? It's really tiny."

"Give me a handful."

Sighing and rolling her eyes, she dug her hand into the bag of chips and grabbed a large handful. She carefully made sure none fell to the ground as she held them up to Shiromaru. The dog opened his mouth, revealing his white teeth, and Kagome placed the chips on his tongue. Shiromaru chomped them and swallowed.

"Mmm… Salt and vinegar…" he rumbled with pleasure.

Kagome looked up at the sky and saw the tops of the boulders around her lighting up with orange.

"Yoshi!" she said, rubbing her hands, "I think it's time for someone to wake up."

She stood and dusted off her butt. Then she took off at a trot towards where Sasuke had slept during the night. She hoped he was still asleep, or the plan she had in mind wouldn't work. When she saw Sasuke's still form inside his sleeping bag, Kagome smiled evilly. As silent as the grave, she crept up to him. Then she knelt down beside him.

Putting her mouth close to his visible ear, she yelled, "WAKE UP!"

She dodged a kunai that Sasuke had slept with in his hand, but it was totally worth it. Grinning like a Cheshire cat, she watched as Sasuke looked around wildly for danger. His eyes finally settled on her.

"What are _you_ still doing here?" he asked grumpily.

"To annoy you," Kagome said.

She looked down at the bag of chips in her hand and held it out, saying, "Wanna chip?"

Sasuke sent her a look that said 'burn in hell', so she smiled again and walked away. She had to catch a shuriken between her fingers as soon as she was several feet from him. She turned around and smiled sweetly at Sasuke.

"Shouldn't you warm up first? We wouldn't want you _hurting_ yourself this early in the morning," said Kagome, grinning evilly.

Sasuke shuddered inwardly at the threat. Shiromaru snorted with amusement. Kagome turned back around and saw Kakashi walking towards her. He seemed to hesitate momentarily when he saw her, and then kept coming.

"He's awake now," said Kagome cheerfully, jerking her thumb over her shoulder at the Uchiha.

"I heard," said Kakashi.

"Have your shuriken back, Sasuke-_kun_," said Kagome sweetly, throwing the shuriken in a flash; there was dislike underneath her sweet tone.

Sasuke jerked out of the way, and gaped at the shuriken embedded itself into the boulder behind him. If he hadn't moved, it would have grazed his cheek. He looked back at Kagome, but she was already walking away past Kakashi. The ninken with her growled a little as he passed the older male. The silver-haired Jounin just stood there with his hands in his pockets until both the girl and ninken were out of sight.

Once they were, Sasuke got up out of his sleeping bag. Goose pimples rose on his skin as he walked over to the boulder. Hooking his index finger in the half-circle that was still showing of the middle of the shuriken, he tugged. The shuriken didn't budge. He tugged harder, and it still didn't move.

"Don't waste your strength on that. You're going to need all of it today," said Kakashi, coming up behind Sasuke.

Sasuke whirled around and said angrily, "Why is she still here?"

"Because I asked her to," said Kakashi, smiling behind his mask, "She's going to train you today."

"Nani?" said Sasuke, taking a step back.

"What, are you scared of her?" asked Kakashi teasingly.

"Iie!" said Sasuke with ire.

Kakashi instantly sensed that the boy was lying. He decided not to say anything.

-o-o-o-

"I'm really starting to wish that the Chuunin exam would be over already," Kagome muttered.

"Nan de? Haven't you waited several years for it?" asked Shiromaru curiously.

"Hai, but _those two_ aren't helping," said Kagome, jerking her head back in the direction of Kakashi and Sasuke.

Looking where she was gesturing, Shiromaru nodded and said, "Sou ka."

"I was really hoping to perfect this jutsu I've been working on for a while. Even if I have the time to do it, I don't have enough chakra on my own to continue fighting after using it at the size I'm planning to. I'm going to have to ask _her_ for help," said Kagome, running a hand through her hair.

"You mean…?" asked Shiromaru.

"Un. Kawarubi," said Kagome, "It means I will have to reveal that I'm a Jinchuuriki."

-o-o-o-

InuYasha opened his eyes blearily, feeling the warm sunlight hit his eyelids. Blinking away the sleep in his eyes, he realized that someone was right in his face and staring at him. Uncomprehending, he blinked sleepily at the person. Then he jumped up with a yell.

"Shippou! What the hell were you doing in my face!" he demanded, sending the redheaded youngster tumbling to the ground.

"Itai…" said Shippou, clutching his head after bumping it.

Then he jumped up to his feet and shook his fist at InuYasha, yelling, "Why did you have to be so loud!"

"Why were you in my face!" repeated InuYasha again.

"Tou-san asked me to wake you up. I was afraid to," said Shippou, pointing over to Touga.

InuYasha followed the direction that Shippou's finger was pointing and saw his father sitting at the low table in the middle of the room. Noticing that his second-oldest son was awake, Touga smiled and waved his rice-covered chopsticks.

"Ohayou, InuYasha!" he said cheerfully.

InuYasha groaned and rubbed his eyes. It was too early in the morning for this.

He uncovered his eyes and looked around the room. To his surprise, he saw only himself, his father, and Shippou.

"Nan da…? Where is everyone?" he asked, his head swiveling in every direction.

"Well," said Touga, swallowing some rice, "Sesshoumaru went with Miroku to train about an hour ago. Touran and Shuuran left about a half hour after that. They were arguing about taking a stone back to a shop, or maybe they were talking about how they wanted to get stoned…"

InuYasha stared at his father blankly, his mouth open.

'_Did he just say that Touran and Shuuran wanted to get stoned?_' he thought.

"Anyway, that leaves you, me, and Shippou-chan here," said Touga, smiling.

"How can you be so cheerful in the morning?" asked InuYasha, burying his head under the blanket that he had slept with last night.

"Because I passed my Chuunin Selection Exam years ago!" said Touga.

InuYasha wanted to puke at how happy his father sounded. There was an almost smug tone to his voice…

"Chotto matte!" yelled InuYasha, making Shippou jump.

He stood up on his knees, the blanket falling over his shoulders.

"What are you so damn happy about!" he asked.

"I just told you," said Touga, appearing to be puzzled.

"Yeah, right! What are you _really_ happy about?"

"Can't someone be happy just to be happy?" asked Touga.

"Iie! Nobody is like that! Unless you're some sort of insane person that–" said InuYasha, and looked at his father's smiling face.

"That explains it," he muttered, sweatdropping.

-o-o-o-

"You're getting better at holding off my attacks. That means your physical strength is building," observed Sesshoumaru as he grated his wooden katana against Miroku's.

Miroku gritted his teeth and tried not to pant too much. Luckily, his arms weren't trembling yet, unlike yesterday morning. Sesshoumaru seemed to enjoy beating him up as much as was possible first thing in the morning. Sweat already rolled down his face, and his sore muscles screamed.

"You never give a compliment directly, do you?" gasped Miroku, pushing harder against the force against his sword.

Sesshoumaru didn't answer. Instead, he applied more brute force against Miroku's blade. Miroku's knees nearly buckled beneath him, so he took his sword away and dodged Sesshoumaru's next attack.

"Yet you're as slippery as ever," said Sesshoumaru.

"You make me sound like an eel," said Miroku, sweatdropping.

"Eels are good at avoiding trouble, too," said Sesshoumaru dryly.

"Why you–!" said Miroku angrily, hefting up his practice blade and charging at his sensei.

He brought his blade crashing down onto Sesshoumaru's as the other moved his katana to block. Miroku gasped as there was an explosion of splinters and the sound similar to a branch breaking. He stared down at what remained of his practice sword. It was broken off at the hilt, leaving a jagged, splintered edge. Miroku looked from his broken blade to Sesshoumaru's, which was unscathed.

"Whoops," said Miroku, smiling nervously and rubbing the back of his head.

-o-o-o-

"What do I have to do?" asked Kagome, sounding like she really didn't want to be where she was.

She and Sasuke were currently standing across from each other, several feet separating them. Kakashi was sitting cross-legged on a nearby boulder, while Shiromaru was sitting below him, appearing to be watching his every move.

"I need you to help improve Sasuke's speed. Think you can do that?" asked Kakashi, waiting for an exploding comment.

He didn't have to wait long.

"Him?" said Kagome angrily, pointing at Sasuke, "He moves like a baa-chan!"

"You're going to have to force yourself to move really slow, Kagome-nee-san," said Shiromaru.

Kagome huffed and screwed up her mouth angrily.

"Fine."

"Yoshi, you two ready?" asked Kakashi.

Kagome and Sasuke nodded simultaneously.

"Higurashi-chan, do you have a training method in mind, or do you want to wing it?" asked Kakashi.

"I have a method in mind," said Kagome, and made a hand seal.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" she said.

At least fifty other Kagomes appeared in poofs of smoke.

'_That's a lot of Kage Bunshin. She must have access to a lot of chakra to be able to summon that many and not appear affected,_' thought Kakashi.

"You!" said Kagome, pointing at Sasuke, "You have to catch as many of the Kage Bunshin as you can in half an hour! Once you touch a Bunshin, they will disappear. And keep where you touch G-rated."

Ignoring her last comment and raising an eyebrow, Sasuke said, "Half an hour? That's generous."

"Iie. It's not," said Kagome, smirking, "Are you ready?"

Sasuke got into a fighting pose and nodded.

"Ready…set…GO!" yelled Kagome.

The Bunshin leapt into the air and ran about in different spots. Kagome disappeared among her clones.

"I forgot to mention…" said one group of Bunshin together.

"…That if you find the real me…" said another group.

"…You win this round!" said a third group.

In answer, Sasuke ran after one of the Kage Bunshin. He could tell just by looking that it was forcing itself to go slow, but it was still running pretty fast compared to Sasuke. Leaping over boulders and dodging other Bunshin, Sasuke pursued the clone.

"You're never going to win like that!" said some Bunshin.

"If you want to win…" said one group.

"…You'll have go after as many as you can at once!" finished another group.

"But we have to warn you…" said a third group.

"…You'll have to be really flexible and acrobatic…" said a fourth group.

"…To catch us!" finished a fifth group.

"Stop talking together! That's annoying!" said Sasuke.

"Taku, this guy pisses me off," said a lone Bunshin…or was it?

Spotting the Kage Bunshin that had spoken alone, Sasuke took off after it. In the process, he tagged three other Bunshin, who disappeared in puffs of smoke. Sasuke really hoped that the one that he was after was the real Kagome. That way he'd win.

Flipping over the clone, he landed in front of it. The Bunshin stopped abruptly, screeching to a halt with a look of surprise on its face.

"Too slow!" said Sasuke, sending a punch at its face.

The punch sent the Bunshin flying, and when it didn't poof away right off the bat, he smirked victoriously.

"Yoshi!" he said, watching the Bunshin hit the ground.

His victory was short-lived when the spread-eagled Bunshin disappeared.

"You thought that you…" said a group of Bunshin.

"…Could find the real me that easily?" said another group.

"Maybe he's too slow after all," said another lone Bunshin.

"He'll _never_ beat that Gaara kid like this," said a second lone Bunshin.

Sasuke looked back and forth between the two lone Bunshin. Which was real? Were both of them fake? Both were smirking at him because of his predicament.

"Can't choose?" asked one.

"You must be blind," said a second.

Gritting his teeth, Sasuke went after one of them. Hopefully, the other one would speak up again next time.

Kakashi watched with interest, studying the movements of the Kage Bunshin. They moved in groups, and not one seemed to move from its 'assigned' group, Kakashi supposed. But every so often, just one Bunshin moved from one group to the next. Looking closely at this one, Kakashi saw that this one was not smirking. It looked serious and calculating.

'_That's the real one. She's moving around, and having lone Bunshin tease Sasuke so that he thinks he's found the real one. It's only making him frustrated, and eventually he's going to lose patience. So why is she doing it?_' he thought.

He watched Sasuke make another Bunshin 'poof!' away, one that had teased Sasuke by itself. The frustration on Sasuke's face was evident.

'_Why is she playing with him?_' thought Kakashi, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

Sasuke had had enough.

Summoning chakra into his eyes, he said, "Sharingan!"

His eyes turned red, and the tomoe spun for a second around his pupil. He looked around, anticipating the movements of the Bunshin. But they weren't moving, just staring at him and muttering amongst themselves.

"You think…" said a lone Bunshin's voice at the back, "that _my_ kekkei genkai is a fake?"

The sound of slow and deliberate footsteps were coming towards him, from behind. Sasuke whirled around, his heart thumping. A lone Kage Bunshin emerged from the crowd of Bunshin, and Sasuke immediately realized that this one _wasn't_ a clone. This was the real one.

Sitting up straighter, Kakashi thought, '_What is she doing?_'

Kagome walked closer to Sasuke and said, "I'll show you that mine far surpasses yours."

Sasuke realized that her eyes were red. Anger surged through him and he took out a kunai. With a yell, he charged towards her, holding the kunai in a death grip. He made the mistake of staring into her eyes as he ran.

_Th-thump._

Sasuke felt his body freeze up, and his breathing become labored. His eyesight faded, his last vision of Kagome being of the spinning tomoe in her eyes.

-o-o-o-

Just as suddenly as he faded from the real world, Sasuke woke up to find himself lying on his back. Gasping, he sat up and looked around. Everything was dark around him, but as he looked up into the sky, he saw that it was red, and that the full moon shining in it was like a blood-red lunar eclipse. The moon in turn bathed the world around Sasuke in a darkness tinted with dark red.

"Where am I?" he asked himself out loud, and his voice echoed.

A soft, crying sound from behind him made him turn. A light illuminated a small child that appeared to be crouching in a corner in an alley, crying as quietly as she could. Sasuke approached the child cautiously, but stopped when a rock appeared to hit the child. A gash appeared on the child's forehead, but it healed almost instantaneously, much to Sasuke's astonishment.

Two older children walked up to the child, appearing to be angry.

"We told you stay out of our village, you freak," said one.

"Or else you would pay the price," added the other.

They threw another rock, which hit the child, who appeared to be only three or four, in the ribs. The little girl gave a cry of pain.

"What was that, freak?" asked one of the other children, grabbing the little girl by the hair and hauling her up.

The little girl cried out again from the pain, angering the two other children further. The child that had a hold of her pushed her to the ground, and picked up a large rock.

"Yoko! What are you doing? I though you said we were just going to slap her around a bit!" said the second child with horror.

"I'm putting this gaki out of its misery! It's because of filth like this," said 'Yoko', tugging on the little girl's hair painfully, "that our country has fallen into ruin!"

"Please let me go! I didn't do anything!" cried Kagome, speaking for the first time.

"Urusai na!" shouted Yoko, slapping her captive across the face.

Kagome whimpered and tried to move. The child that had a hold of the young Kagome raised the rock up higher, preparing to smash Kagome's skull with it. Kagome struggled under the older child, trying to break free.

"Help me hold her down, Nana!" hissed Yoko.

"I don't think–" began 'Nana', but Yoko cut her off.

"I don't care what _you_ think! I'm your aneki, so you should listen to me!" said Yoko, still trying to hold a struggling Kagome.

Hesitantly, Nana helped Yoko hold young Kagome down by pinning her wrists to her sides.

Her mouth forming a cruel smirk, Yoko said, "Sayonara, you nameless brat!"

What happened next was too fast for Sasuke to really take in. As the rock came down to smash Kagome's skull, Nana was thrown backwards. Yoko's hand with the rock in it was caught around the wrist by one of Kagome's hands in a death grip. Yoko gasped and looked down at young Kagome with horror.

Sasuke stared. The little girl's eyes were no longer dark blue, but pale blue with oval pupils. Her fingernails were forming into claws, and her canine teeth grew longer. Kagome stood, her shoulders hunched over and her face bloodthirsty.

"How dare you attack my host like that!" growled Kagome in a harsh voice.

"N-nani!" said Yoko, trying to back away on her hands and knees.

"I'll make you pay!" said whatever was controlling Kagome, making her hands pop as it flexed her fingers.

With a snarl and a spray of blood, Kagome, or who appeared to be Kagome, darted in and ripped out Yoko's throat. Yoko's sister Nana watched with horror as her older sibling slumped to the ground with blood pumping out of the ripped jugular vein in her throat.

"What are you?" Nana asked with hysteria, tears pouring down her cheeks.

She tried to get away just like her sister, scooting her way down towards the entrance of the alley.

"Your worst nightmare, you spineless koinu," growled 'Kagome', her eyes flashing dangerously as she stalked toward Nana.

Nana watched with horror as blood dripped from the hand that reached out toward her. She had no time to react as her throat was ripped away from her. She fell to the ground, her blood pumping from her, too. But she remained alive as her life drained from her. She tried to draw breath and cough out the blood leaking into her lungs, but her throat merely gurgled. She tried to speak something to Kagome as she glared murderously up at the little girl. Another gurgling sound came out of her throat, but whatever was controlling Kagome read her lips.

_You monster._ That was what she said, or tried to say. 'Kagome' watched as Nana gave one last gurgle as the breath left in her lungs leaked out from dying. Sensing that her host was safe, whatever had controlled Kagome withdrew deep into Kagome's mind and let her host's mind awake.

The real Kagome blinked, as if confused. She continued to blink. Then she came to her senses as she looked around and saw the bloody bodies of the two girls that had tormented her.

Gasping with terror, she said, "Nani? What's going on?"

She looked down at her hands and gasped again, this time at the fresh blood that dripped from them.

"Iie… Iie…" she repeated, shaking her head and backing away.

Her back hit the dead end of the alley, and she stared down at the bodies of the girls. She started to hyperventilate, breathing like she was oxygen-starved.

Looking towards the entrance of the alley, she took off running towards it and yelled "IIE!"

And just like that, everything faded and left Sasuke in the darkness lit by the red moon. He panted with his eyes wide. Cold sweat poured down his face, and he collapsed to his hands and knees.

Shaking, he said, "What the hell was that?"

He tried to fight the nausea that had arisen from the scene he had just watched. And he continued to shake, before he heard another sound, a voice, behind him.

"Kagome kagome…"

Sasuke turned with dread, not wanting to see what was next.

"Kago no naka no tori wa…"

The voice was of a young girl's, perhaps of four or five years of age. Sasuke's eyes widened as he saw the same girl from before in a forest, singing softly to herself. She appeared to be a little bit older than the child from before.

"Itsu itsu deyaru…" sang the young Kagome.

She paused when she spotted a bush that still bore a little bit of fruit. Since it was always rainy in Mizu no Kuni, plants rarely received the amount of sunlight they needed, and got too much water instead. For a bush to have berries this late in the season was a rare gift indeed.

Crouching beside the bush, Kagome plucked one of the berries, appearing to be a blackberry, and sniffed it cautiously. It smelled all right, with no hint of anything suspicious. Deeming the berries safe to eat, the young Kagome grabbed handfuls of the berries and stuffed her mouth with them. She was _so_ hungry!

After the fifth mouthful, Kagome began to feel odd. Her limbs were moving sluggishly, and her head felt warm and fuzzy. Before she knew it, she was falling to the ground onto her back. She stared upwards, trying to move her arms and legs, but found that she couldn't. She couldn't move any part of her body; her muscles felt too weak to even twitch. She also tried to make a sound out of her mouth, but her vocal cords seemed to be paralyzed, as well. Her jaw sagged, and she couldn't do anything to close it.

Kagome was confused; she had never heard of blackberries causing paralysis before. Her eyes rolled over to the bush of blackberries, but they still appeared to be normal blackberries.

"Oi, you were right. There was a gaki in these woods," said a voice to her left.

"See? I told you," said another voice, again at her left.

Kagome tried to see who was talking out of the corner of her eye, but it was no use. All she gained was a pain in her eye.

"Looks like she ate a lot of those berries. How much of that drug did you put on them?" asked the first voice.

"Eating a few mouthfuls would be enough to render her unable to move for at least half an hour," said the second voice.

"You should have put more," disagreed the first voice.

"You thought I shouldn't have wasted it on the berries in the first place! You thought the chances of the gaki wandering in this direction were at least zero!"

Kagome realized that she had been drugged with something that caused cataplexy (1). Her heart began to beat fast as she heard the sound of approaching footsteps. She nearly passed out as a man dressed in shinobi clothing appeared in front of her.

He was a handsome man with friendly brown eyes and a warm smile. His hair was dark and messy, though it was obviously cared for. Kagome wanted to recoil when he squatted down in front of her.

"Look at you," he said, laughing at little, "You have berry juice all over your mouth. Here, let me get it."

Using a glove tucked into his jacket, he carefully began to wipe away the dark berry juice that was around her mouth.

"There! All gone!" said the man, smiling as friendly as ever.

For some reason, the friendliness of the man gave Kagome the chills. Her eyes wandered to the hitai-ite on his forehead. If she could have frowned, she would have done so. The symbol on the hitai-ite was _not_ the symbol on the hitai-ite of Kirigakure (2) shinobi. Kagome had seen Kirigakure ninja before, and this ninja was not one of them.

"Where did Ichiro go?" asked the non-Kiri ninja.

"He went back to the base. He'll be back in a few minutes," said the other man in the vicinity.

Kagome saw the second person when he walked into view. He was a gruff-looking male, with hints of a beard and mustache, and had a senbon sticking out of his mouth. His hitai-ite was also did not have a Kiri symbol.

"She's kawaii, ne, Shigano?" asked the first man.

'Shigano' huffed and said, "I do this job for the money, unlike you, Ryuusa."

"You're no fun," pouted 'Ryuusa'.

"This one will fetch a good price. Maybe Ichiro will actually give us a decent share of the money this time," said Shigano, looking coldly down at Kagome.

"Iie, I think I want to keep this one for myself," said Ryuusa, stroking Kagome's cheek with a hand.

The feeling of his hand on her cheek made Kagome's skin crawl. She didn't like the way he was looking at her, either.

"You're sick, you know? We catch kids to sell 'em to creeps like you, or to people who want to train 'em to become killers," said Shigano.

Ryuusa ignored Shigano's comment and said, to Kagome, "You're pretty, Kawaii-chan, even though you're really skinny. We'll fatten you up and you'll be even prettier."

He smiled that friendly smile, and Kagome felt like screaming and running away.

"But I can't deny that you do have a way with kids," muttered Shigano, looking off to the side.

"Kawaii little Kawaii-chan!" said Ryuusa in a singsong voice.

(**NOTICE: IF YOU ARE UNCOMFORTABLE WITH HINTS OF CHILD MOLESTING OR RAPE, THEN SKIP OVER THIS NEXT PART UNTIL YOU SEE MY NEXT NOTICE**)

As he said this, his hand trailed to the bottom hem of Kagome's yukata. Kagome's eyes widened as his hand went up inside it. He carefully maneuvered her legs open so that they made a 'V' shape between them.

"Oi! Save it for later!" said Shigano angrily, "Wait until Ichiro comes back and has his say!"

"I don't think so," said Ryuusa in a seductive voice, "I think I want a taste of her before Ichiro decides to take her away from me."

"He's going to kick your ass," mumbled Shigano, "You pedophile."

Ryuusa's hand went further up Kagome's yukata until it came to her makeshift panties. He pulled them down and rubbed his finger against her labia. Kagome lay in shock; why on earth was he touching her there? Ryuusa's finger went deeper, touching the inner folds of her labia and rubbing against her small clitoris. Kagome actually managed to emit a small squeak.

Frowning, Ryuusa looked up at Shigano and asked, "Didn't you say it would last half an hour?"

"It does," said Shigano gruffly, his face turned away.

Ryuusa shrugged and continued his violation of Kagome's body. He placed his finger at her vaginal opening and examined it. Even from where he was at, he could see the thin membrane of her hymen (3). He touched it very lightly, resulting in another squeak from Kagome.

'_Why is he touching me there?_' thought Kagome, looking down Ryuusa at the bottoms of her eyes.

It was then that she noticed a bulge in the front of his pants. Her mind was not quite as hazy as before, but she still couldn't grasp what he was doing to her. And she had no idea what was in his pants that was making that bulge.

Ryuusa followed her line of sight and smiled in that creepy, friendly way of his.

"Do you want to know what this is?" he asked, touching the bulge.

Kagome felt a warming sensation in her body, her nerves tingling. One of her fingers twitched, and she realized that the feeling was coming back in her limbs. Her mind was clearer, and she finally knew that it was very bad for the man to touch her where he had. Her breath caught her in her throat when she heard him unzip his pants.

Her body reacted in a flash; pushing her weak arms and legs up, she tried to make a run for it. She didn't make it far, since Ryuusa grabbed her by the ankle and slammed her down to the ground. He pinned her arms to her sides, a murderous look on his face. He no longer looked like a nice guy.

"Ama (bitch)! Hold still!" he hissed through clenched teeth.

Kagome began to scream and thrashed her body around. Ryuusa slapped her hard across the face, making her bleed.

"Urusai!" he yelled.

His captive responded by kneeing him in the bulge in the pants. Ryuusa gasped and collapsed, holding himself in his pain. Kagome wriggled her way out from under him and made a break for it.

(**NOTICE: HINTS OF CHILD MOLESTING END HERE**)

Ryuusa looked angrily at Shigano and yelled, "What the hell are you standing there for? After her!"

"I'm not going to help you molest a child," said Shigano, narrowing his eyes.

"Your money's walking away! You said that it would last half an hour!"

Shigano said nothing.

Realization dawned on Ryuusa and he said, "You son of a bitch! You barely put any on the berries, didn't you? You wanted her to get away!"

Shigano stayed silent, but he glared at his partner. Ryuusa growled and took off after Kagome. Kagome heard him coming and tried to force her weak legs to move faster. She screamed when a kunai flew past her. Turning, she plastered herself against a tree, and saw a shuriken coming.

What happened next seemed to go in slow motion. The shuriken came closer and closer, and Kagome could see Ryuusa's angry, charging form beyond that. A warming feeling began behind her eyes, and it almost felt like energy was surging into them. It didn't feel like the reiki that she had learned to use. It felt denser. And quite suddenly, Kagome could see what was about to happen.

She saw herself being killed and getting impaled onto the tree. Heart pounding, she dodged the shuriken. It embedded itself where her forehead had been moments before.

"Nani? How could you have dodged it?" said Ryuusa.

Kagome responded by running from him again. Her lungs heaved as she ran faster and faster. She ran near a tree and saw the kunai from before embedded into it. Looking back at Ryuusa and then at the kunai, she wrapped her hands around the handle of the knife and pulled on it. The kunai came out, the wood squeaking. Clasping the kunai closely to her body and trembling, she waited for Ryuusa to capture her.

"You little ama! You'll pay for what you did!" roared Ryuusa, grabbing her by the shoulders and spinning her around to face him.

Kagome chose that moment to plunge the kunai into his chest. Ryuusa gasped again, holding Kagome in a death grip. Blood began to stain the front of his vest, and it began to leak out of the corner of his mouth.

"How did you…?" he gasped, starting to fall.

As he looked up at her, he said, "Your eyes… They're red…"

With that, he slumped to the ground. His eyes glazed over, and a sigh came from his mouth, the sound of the oxygen leaving his lungs. Kagome looked down at her bloodstained hands and at the kunai, which was buried deep into Ryuusa's heart. She leaned against the tree and trembled.

Hearing footsteps, Kagome looked up and gasped. She had forgotten entirely about the second shinobi. Jerking the kunai out of Ryuusa's chest, she held it out in front of her, though her hands shook. Shigano emerged from around a tree. He looked with unconcern at Ryuusa's body and at Kagome. He looked at the shaking kunai pointing towards him and shrugged.

"I knew the teme would get himself killed one day, but I didn't think it would be by one of his would-be victims," he said, shaking his head.

Kagome swallowed and held the kunai up higher.

Chuckling, Shigano said, "You can relax. If I wanted to kidnap you, I would have put more of that drug on the berries. Besides, since Ryuusa's dead, I'm dead, too. Ichiro will kill me if he finds out Ryuusa died on my watch; they're brothers, you see. So I need to leave here quickly."

He turned and said, "You should, too."

Kagome watched him walked away, still holding the kunai pointed towards his back.

"Oi, gaki," said Shigano, stopping.

Kagome stiffened.

Shigano looked over his shoulder, gave her a thumbs-up, and said, "Nice eyes."

Then he continued on his way. Kagome took this chance to run. She ran far from where Ryuusa's body lay. She ran until her legs gave out from under her, and even then, she crawled until she found a suitable hiding spot. She hid under a bank near a stream and panted. She stayed still until she had caught her breath.

Realizing that she still held the kunai, Kagome looked down at it. She grimaced when she saw that it was encrusted with dried blood. Looking around cautiously, she crawled over to the stream and washed the blood away. Once it was gone, Kagome looked down at its dark blade.

Seeing her reflection in it, she said, "A ninja, ka? If I were a ninja, nobody would _ever_ try and hurt me again!"

Sasuke, who was feeling quite sick by now, watched the vision fade. He panted, trying to hold in the contents of his stomach. And just like that, he was thrust back into the real world again.

-o-o-o-

Kakashi reacted at once when he saw what Kagome was doing.

'_That's the Mangekyou Sharingan! She's using Tsukuyomi (literally 'moon reader')!_' he thought, preparing to go to Sasuke.

But before he could get to Sasuke, the boy froze, and then dropped to his hands and knees while emptying the contents of his stomach. The Sharingan faded from both his and Kagome's eyes. The Kage Bunshin standing in the area poofed away as Kakashi darted over to Sasuke.

"Sasuke! Daijoubu?" asked Kakashi with urgency as he knelt next to the boy on one knee.

The boy said nothing; he continued to retch and puke up bile. Kakashi felt Sasuke's forehead and realized it was coated in a cold sweat.

"What did you show him!" Kakashi demanded to Kagome.

Turning away, Kagome said, "Memories."

She began to walk away.

"Oi!" Kakashi called, rising to his feet.

He was about to go after Kagome, when Shiromaru jumped in his way and growled savagely. When Kakashi showed no sign of wanting to go after the girl, Shiromaru exhaled sharply and took off after Kagome in a trot.

Kakashi knelt down next to Sasuke again. The boy was no longer puking, but he was panting like he had just run a few miles. His eyes were wide and staring as he looked at the ground between his hands.

"Sasuke! What did she show you?" asked Kakashi.

Sasuke said nothing; he continued to stare.

Kakashi gripped the boy's shoulder tightly and repeated, "Sasuke! What did she show you? Did she make you relive what happened to your clan?" (4)

"Iie…" Sasuke finally said.

"Then what did she show you?"

"Bad memories… _Her_ bad memories…" said Sasuke, sounding hollow.

"Her bad memories…?" repeated Kakashi.

Sasuke nodded. Kakashi looked up to see where Kagome had gone, but she or the ninken were nowhere in sight.

'_What the hell did she show him that made him puke? And why isn't he debilitated?_' Kakashi wondered.

He was glad of the smell of Sasuke's vomit; it covered up the scent Kagome was giving off.

-o-o-o-

Shiromaru found Kagome standing by the edge of the cliff with her hands in her pockets. Her hair, which was getting quite long and went to her shoulders, blew in the wind. She appeared to be looking out over the buttes and plateaus around the cliff.

"Are you going to let your hair grow out?" asked Shiromaru, taking a seat beside her.

"Iie," said Kagome, not looking at him, "I just haven't gotten around to cutting it yet. I've been busy, after all."

There was a moment of silence between them.

"Soooo…" said Shiromaru hesitantly, "did you show him? You usually only use that jutsu against someone that you've killed right afterward."

"Hai, I showed him. He needed to see that I got my kekkei genkai naturally," said Kagome, still not looking at him.

"Sou? Do you really want that gaki walking around knowing that you nearly got molested or how weak you used to be?" asked Shiromaru quietly.

"He's not going to tell anyone. He's smart enough to keep it to himself. I showed it to him to make him see that he's not the only person in the world that had something crummy happen to them in the past," said Kagome.

"What happened to him?" asked Shiromaru curiously.

Kagome sighed and closed her eyes, saying, "I don't know the details. I just know that the Uchiha clan is pretty famous here, yet the only one I've met is him back there. Kind of strikes me as odd, but I'm not going to pry. Don't want to set him off, now do we?"

At the last part, Kagome grinned mischievously at Shiromaru. Shiromaru snorted and shook his head with amusement.

"We should go back now. I need to give that gaki something for the aftereffects of my jutsu," said Kagome, turning.

"You made something for that? Why would you, when your only victims have been killed afterwards?" asked Shiromaru.

"Just in case," said Kagome, shrugging.

'_Her foresight is scary sometimes,_' thought Shiromaru.

Kagome walked over to where she had left her pack, Shiromaru hot on her heels. She knelt down and opened a small pocket in the side. Kagome put her hands inside it and Shiromaru heard the clink of what sounded like glass. Pulling out a small vial, Kagome held it up to her face and shook it. The vial was about an inch and a half long, and was filled with a clear liquid. If you looked close enough, you could see that the liquid had a green tint to it.

"That's it?" asked Shiromaru doubtfully.

"It's very potent," answered Kagome.

She closed the pocket again and held the vial carefully in her hand. Turning, she began making her way over to where she had left Sasuke and Kakashi.

"Who did you test it on?" asked Shiromaru, walking beside her.

"Myself."

They passed Sasuke's and Kakashi's campsite, and Kagome went by the boulder that still had the shuriken embedded in it. With a quick tug, Kagome jerked it out effortlessly, the shuriken trailing dust as it did. She pocketed the shuriken and climbed over a small wall of boulders in order to reach her destination. Shiromaru dropped to the ground beside her in the boulder-less clearing where Kakashi was still kneeling next to Sasuke.

The silver-haired man looked up sharply at her approached. His one dark eye narrowed at her, but Kagome ignored him. She continued her way to Sasuke, who was sitting up now. He was still very pale, and Kagome could smell his vomit.

Sasuke glanced up in surprise when he saw Kagome walked up to him. Kagome held out the vial of medicine to him, her mouth screwed up with frustration.

"Drink it in one gulp. It'll help you feel better," she muttered, not looking at him.

Hesitantly, Sasuke took the little vial from her hand. Once he did, she walked away and leaned against a nearby boulder with her hands in her pockets. Sasuke held the vial level with his eyes and swirled the liquid around.

"Are you going to drink it or not?" Kagome snapped with irritation, causing him to jump.

Hands still trembling, Sasuke pried the cork of the vial out carefully. Opening his mouth, he tipped the vial into it. He drank it down in one gulp, just like Kagome had told him. He coughed and spluttered as it left a trail of fire down his throat. How could something be both fiery and bitter at the same time? Screwing up his face at the taste, Sasuke poked a finger in his mouth and moved it over his tongue to try and get rid of it.

As the medicine, or whatever it was, hit his stomach, warmth blossomed in his body. It traveled quickly from his stomach and spread all the way to the top of his head and the tips of his fingers and toes. Where he had felt weak before, he felt stronger than ever. Holding a hand up to his face, he saw that it was no longer shaking.

Kakashi was surprised at the change. Sasuke wasn't deathly pale anymore; instead, his skin had a healthy glow to it. And his eyes were bright instead of dull. Whatever had been in the vial, it had completely revitalized the boy. His gaze went over to Kagome, who was still leaning against the boulder. Her eyes were closed and she looked really irritated. Her ninken was on guard next to her.

'_First she uses the Mangekyou Sharingan's Tsukuyomi on him and then she helps him recover? She's the most confusing individual I've ever met,_' thought Kakashi.

Sasuke recorked the vial and stared at it. He looked at it and then at Kagome. He really should return it… Standing, Sasuke clenched the vial in his fist and walked over to Kagome.

Stopping in front of her, he held out the vial and said, "Oi. Wake up."

With lightning-fast reflexes, Kagome grabbed the vial and stuffed it into her pocket, saying, "I'm not asleep, baka yarou!"

She opened her eyes and said spitefully, "What, not even a 'thank you'? Spoiled brat."

She made as if to walk away, but Sasuke grabbed her around the wrist. Shiromaru gave a sharp growl.

"Was what you showed me true?" demanded Sasuke.

"Let go of me," said Kagome in a quiet, deadly voice.

"Was it?" Sasuke demanded again, getting really close to her face.

"Why the hell would I make something like that up?" Kagome yelled into his face, "Do you think I _like_ making up fake memories? That it's some kind of hobby?"

Sasuke couldn't think of a good retaliation, so he just stood there and glared. Kagome grabbed the wrist of the hand that was holding _her_ wrist and pried Sasuke's fingers off. She dug her hand into her pocket and slapped the shuriken that she had taken out of the boulder into Sasuke's palm.

"Here's your shuriken, chicken boy," said Kagome with irritation, before turning and walking off.

Sasuke watched her back as she walked away from him. Her fists were clenched at her sides, and her back was stiff. Sasuke looked down at the shuriken in his hand. One half of it was scratched and covered with dust. Sasuke realized it was the one that it had been stuck in the boulder.

'_She tugged it out…?_' he thought, sweatdropping.

Kagome felt Kakashi's eyes on her and she turned to him.

Pointing at him, she said, "Do I have something on my face? Don't you know that staring is rude?"

Kakashi stood from his crouch and dusted off imaginary dust.

"You know how to use Tsukuyomi," he stated.

"Eh? The what?" asked Kagome, a question mark appearing over her head.

Narrowing his eyes, Kakashi said, "How can you use a jutsu when you don't even know the name of it?"

"You don't require the name of a jutsu in order to use it!" retorted Kagome.

"Oh?" said Kakashi, in a tone that sounded like he was testing her.

"You need hand seals to mold chakra and the right mixtures of physical energy and spiritual energy to make different kinds of jutsu, not stupid incantations!" said Kagome angrily.

"Good answer," said Kakashi, doing his 'U' eye.

"Nani…?" said Kagome, sweatdropping.

Then she pointed at him and said, "You're an impossible person!"

"I could say the same about you," retaliated Kakashi, still 'smiling'.

"I came up here to train _him_, not to get lectured by a hentai of a sensei!" yelled Kagome, pointing at Sasuke.

"I happen to _like_ my Icha Icha books, thank you," said Kakashi dryly.

"Oh, I bet you do," said Kagome darkly.

She pictured herself ripping Kakashi's perverted book into four sections, setting them on fire, and cackling madly as she danced in a circle around them. She was so occupied with this thought that she didn't realized that she was giggling in a slightly insane way, and rubbing her hands together like a mad scientist would. Her face was like the face of a cat that had just caught the canary.

'_Good lord, what is she thinking about now?_' thought Shiromaru.

Kakashi clutched the pocket that held his copy of Icha Icha Paradise protectively.

'_This girl is weird,_' thought Sasuke.

-o-o-o-

Gaara (5) was sitting by the window in the suite assigned to him and his teammates. He was glaring at nothing in particular, but on the inside he was getting really impatient. That girl hadn't showed up yet, and it had been nearly a week since she had. Gaara had waited every night for her to appear, but every night so far had been quiet and uneventful. And with no sign of _her_.

'**Perhaps you were wrong, after all,**' said 'Kaa-san'.

'_She will show,_' Gaara said to it.

'**You should have made her ours when you had the chance!**' growled 'Kaa-san'.

Gaara narrowed his eyes and said nothing. Across the room, Kankurou and Temari watched him discreetly. Their younger brother had been acting so odd all month, but especially this week. It seemed almost like he was restless, impatient even. Gaara was someone who rarely, if ever, got impatient.

'_Is he getting excited about his upcoming battle with Uchiha Sasuke? Or is it…something else?_' wondered Kankurou.

-o-o-o-

"You're getting very good at guiding them, InuYasha. Soon, you'll be able order them to attack your opponents," said Touga, watching his son guide the Saimyoushou through a really complex maze of tunnels and holes.

It was a harder maze than the one from yesterday. After InuYasha had guided the Saimyoushou through the first maze three times without any mistakes, Touga had made this maze in its place.

InuYasha ignored his father, trying to concentrate on controlling the Saimyoushou. So far, he had only lost three, and he was almost done with the maze. He sighed in relief when he got the remaining Saimyoushou through the tunnel at the end. The three Saimyoushou that hadn't made it were sitting on top of his head. InuYasha glanced up at them in irritation, since they seemed to enjoy eating his hair.

The rest of the Saimyoushou flew simultaneously towards InuYasha, and hovered near him, waiting for their next command.

"You three! In my hair! Stop chewing on it and get off your lazy butts!" InuYasha ordered angrily.

With what seemed a dejected air, the three large wasps in InuYasha's hair started their wings and flew over into the large group of Saimyoushou. They actually looked sad, which was quite a feat for beings that had no facial muscles.

"Oh, look. You made them unhappy. The poor girls," said Touga, shaking his head.

"How the hell do you know that all three are girls?" demanded InuYasha.

"Because all Saimyoushou used for fighting are females. The males stay back in the original hive and tend to the eggs and larvae," said Touga.

"You're telling me this _now_? Last time I asked how you knew one of them was a female, you said that it was intuition! Why the hell did you tell me that, anyway?" roared InuYasha.

"To screw around with your mind," said Touga, grinning.

"And you call yourself my tou-san. You act more like an aniki than a tou-san," muttered InuYasha.

"Alright, ladies!" said Touga, clapping his hands, "Let's get back to work!"

Then he looked at InuYasha and said, "I was talking to you, too."

'_I'm gonna kill him…_' thought InuYasha, clenching a fist in front of his face.

-o-o-o-

"Yoshi, I fixed my katana! We should be okay now," said Miroku, giving his sensei a thumbs-up.

Sesshoumaru looked at his student's practice sword and nearly laughed out loud. He had to fight himself to not smile or even show he was amused. His eye did twitch a little, though.

"Where…" he asked, "did you find duct tape (6)?"

"Oh! That's a good question!" said Miroku excitedly, holding up a finger.

"Do I even want to know?"

"You see, when I went looking for something to fix my practice katana, I saw a pretty girl and–" began Miroku.

"Do you want me to tell Sango-sama that you have been flirting with women during your absence from Tsukigakure?" threatened Sesshoumaru politely.

Miroku gasped and said, "You wouldn't!"

"I would, unless you shut up and get on with your training," said Sesshoumaru.

In answer, Miroku ran at Sesshoumaru and swung his katana at his sensei's head. Sesshoumaru blocked it, and Miroku's sword broke, _again_. The duct tape held the broken spot in place, but now the top half was bent from the other half. Miroku sweatdropped and stared at his new katana, which looked like an 'L (7)'. He swished it back and forth, and the top half flopped around.

"It appears that your lady's duct tape didn't work," said Sesshoumaru slyly.

"I never said I _got_ it from her!" yelled Miroku.

"Did you even meet a girl, or did you just go to a store and buy a roll of duct tape?" asked Sesshoumaru tiredly.

"It cost thirty ryou for one roll!" declared Miroku angrily.

"Was there even a girl involved?" asked Sesshoumaru shrewdly.

"If you count the baa-chan that rung up the duct tape," mumbled Miroku.

-o-o-o-

"It's afternoon, and you're still on round _one_!" declared one of Kagome's Kage Bunshin angrily.

An instant later, that Bunshin was kicked in the gullet by Sasuke, who had had it up to his ears with Kagome's Kage Bunshin and their snide comments. The Bunshin disappeared in a poof of smoke.

"You don't have to be so violent!" said another Bunshin.

That Bunshin was disposed of, as well. Sasuke stood panting, sweat pouring down his face. He had decided long ago that Kagome was one person he would have never wanted to play 'Ninja' with when he was little. He didn't know anything about her camouflaging skills, so he didn't know if she would suck at the hiding part of 'Ninja'. But she would definitely win at the 'tagging' part.

Kakashi, meanwhile, was sitting on the same boulder as before and reading his Icha Icha Paradise book. The real Kagome and her Kage Bunshin kept sending him dirty looks. One of the Bunshin had broken away from its group and was now sneaking up behind the Jounin silently and stealthily. Shiromaru knew that the Bunshin was there, but didn't give any inclination that he did. Very quietly, the Kage Bunshin climbed up onto the boulder.

"Don't even think about it," said Kakashi, who had smelled the intoxicating aroma of the Bunshin coming up behind him.

Pouting, the Kage Bunshin climbed down the boulder, only to be wiped out by Sasuke. Kakashi watched the clone disappear in a poof of smoke out of the corner of his eye.

Looking back at his book, he thought, '_I didn't even hear her coming; she needs to do something about that scent if she wants to succeed in stealth._'

Taking in a deep breath, Kakashi nearly fell over from lightheadedness. It seemed that the smell was getting stronger and stronger. He would probably be permanently lightheaded after the girl left.

Kakashi glanced up from his book to see how Sasuke was doing. It was obvious that he wouldn't win round one, but Kakashi could tell that Sasuke's speed had already increased dramatically.

"Yoshi!" cried the Kage Bunshin suddenly.

This made Sasuke pause and make Kakashi put his book down.

"Nan desu ka?" asked Kakashi.

"My time's up! I'm free!" said one lone Kage Bunshin.

All the other Kage Bunshin disappeared, a fine mist of smoke covering everything for a few seconds. Then it cleared away, leaving the Kage Bunshin, which was apparently the real Kagome. The real Kagome was hopping up and down excitedly with her hands in the air.

"Who says?" asked Kakashi.

"The position of the sun!" said Kagome, pointing up at the sky.

"You remember the position the sun was at when you got up here?" asked Sasuke skeptically.

"Hai, I do! That's the way I tell time in the wilderness!" said Kagome angrily.

She turned to Kakashi and said, "Can I go now?"

Kakashi sighed and thought, '_I was hoping to keep her here for another hour, but she's pretty sharp._'

"Fine," he voiced, "you can go."

"Yippee!" cried Kagome, punching her fist into the air.

She ran over to Shiromaru and said, "We get to go back! Yay!"

"Who's 'we'? You summoned me up here, not in Konoha," Shiromaru pointed out.

But Kagome ignored him and skipped off to get her pack. She came back a couple of minutes later, still skipping. She was also smiling cutely and humming to herself.

"Ready, Shiromaru-kun?" asked Kagome, going up to the large dog.

"Un."

"Ja ne, jii-san!" said Kagome, waving at Kakashi, who then sweatdropped.

Kagome scowled at Sasuke and said, "I hope I never see you again, chicken boy."

Sasuke scowled right back at her, so Kagome crossed her eyes and stuck out her tongue at him in retaliation.

"Even though making faces at people is fun, shouldn't we get going?" asked Shiromaru with exasperation.

"Oh, right," said Kagome glumly, since she wanted to make even more faces at Sasuke.

She made a hand seal, and she and Shiromaru simply began to fade in the air.

"Nani?" said Sasuke, his eyes nearly popping out his head.

"It's been an honor to be of service," said Kagome sarcastically, saluting Kakashi.

Her voice echoed as she said that, and then she disappeared entirely, taking Shiromaru with her to wherever. Once they were gone, Sasuke ran over to where they disappeared and began to look very much like Naruto as he looked around to see where the older girl had gone.

"You're not going to find her, Sasuke," said Kakashi.

"Where did she go?" asked Sasuke.

"I heard her tell her teammate that the place she went to is called 'the void'. I'm guessing that it is a place between the different spaces of this world. Apparently, Higurashi-san can control time there, as well. During the preliminary matches, she said she was gone half an hour, when it was only a second in this world," explained Kakashi.

Sasuke looked puzzled, which made Kakashi sweatdrop.

'_Even though he's from the famous Uchiha clan, he can be really dense sometimes,_' thought Kakashi.

-o-o-o-

Kagome felt the ground of the real world materialize beneath her feet. Once she saw the familiar trees of the forest that she had originally been training in, she collapsed to the ground, exhausted.

"I assume that you're not going to pass out?" asked Shiromaru.

Kagome looked up at him angrily and said, "Iie! I'm just tired and glad to be back here!"

"Just asking," muttered the ninken.

He began sniffing along the ground, taking in the new scents in Konoha. Kagome lay in the grass, watching the clouds drift in the sky. Shiromaru's large wet nose passed dangerously close to her hair, and Kagome looked up to see his snout hovering over her face.

"What are you doing?" she asked dully.

"You need a bath," stated Shiromaru.

A tick mark appeared on Kagome's forehead.

"I haven't had time to bathe, you baka! I've been busy training!" she yelled.

"At least take a sponge bath. Even the scent of you in heat can't block out that smell of sweat and dirt," said Shiromaru.

"I'll take one tomorrow!" Kagome said, getting up and stalking over to the hollow under the base of one of the trees nearby.

She knelt down and peered into the hollow. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that all of her belongings were still there.

"And now, I'm going to go to sleep. Oyasumi (good night)!" said Kagome grumpily.

Shiromaru snorted as he watched her crawl into the hollow under the tree and simply fall asleep.

"I'll make sure not to eat every dog that comes sniffing around here," he said sarcastically, before curling up beside the entrance of the hollow.

_**Owari**_

-o-o-o-

**Omake: Behind the Scenes**

Kagome, Sasuke, and Kakashi were taking a break while the set people were moving the cardboard boulders into place. Taking a drink from her water bottle, Kagome sighed contently.

"You do realize that you made some mistakes during the last take, ne?" asked Sasuke.

"Nani? No, I didn't," said Kagome, looking surprised.

"Hai, you did. Like when you summoned your ninken, you didn't use any blood to power the jutsu," Sasuke pointed out.

"I did, too! I was still bleeding from when Pakkun bit my leg! Climbing up that cliff kept opening my wounds up!" said Kagome.

"Well, what about when your kitchenware 'mysteriously disappeared'?" asked Kakashi, putting up two fingers on each hand and moving them up and down (8).

"I asked Shiromaru to take them back to his home between scenes! Sheesh, just because you didn't see something happen, doesn't mean it didn't!" said Kagome angrily, putting her hands on her hips.

She watched Kakashi take a drag out of the gourd of sake supplied to him, and scoffed.

"What?" asked Kakashi.

"Nothing. Just that you're drinking alcohol before we go onto the set," said Kagome.

"Why shouldn't I? I'm not going to really do anything, after all. I'm going to just sit and read my beloved book," said Kakashi.

"About your book…" began Kagome.

"Hai?"

"One of these days, I'm going to rip it into little pieces and hide the pieces in the walls of the studio," said Kagome innocently.

Kakashi paled.

"Nah, I'm just kidding," said Kagome.

Kakashi instantly gave a sigh of relief and hugged his porn book to his chest.

'_No, I'm not,_' thought Kagome, giving Kakashi a sidelong glance, '_That's just what I _want_ you to think._'

-o-o-o-

**Author's Notes**

(1) Cataplexy is a disease that causes muscles to be unable to support you for a brief amount of time. You may not be able to even walk or talk. But it may also be a symptom of some other disease or illness. Thank you, Dr. House!

(2) For those of you who haven't read my corrections on my other chapters, I accidentally put 'Amegakure' for the hidden village in Mizu no Kuni, instead of the correct village of 'Kirigakure (Village Hidden Among the Mist)'.

(3) A common misconception (which irritates me) is that the hymen is _inside_ the vagina. The hymen is actually located at the entrance of the vagina.

(4) Kakashi can be really blunt sometimes -_-;

(5) ***sound of squealing fangirls*** Gaara! You brought Gaara back!

(6) When I was little, I thought it was pronounced 'duck tape', and also thought it was used to catch ducks -_-;

(7) Somewhere in Toukyou, Japan…  
**L**: ***sneezes***  
**Light**: Oi, you okay, Ryuuzaki?  
**L**: ***rubs nose*** Oh, it's just someone talking about me somewhere  
**Light**: ***shrugs*** Okay, if you say so. Now, this new clue about Kira…  
**L**: ***grins mentally*** ***mentally chants in singsong voice* **_I have more fangirls than Light, I have more fangirls than Light…_

(8) He's doing the quotation marks thingy with his index and middle fingers

-o-o-o-

Here you go! Just to warn you, school starts the week after this next one, so I won't be able to update as often. I failed geometry last year, so in punishment, I have restricted computer time and more forced studying time. It's not my fault I'm retarded in math ;_;

I probably freaked some of you out with the 'almost-rape' scene. I'm not that mean! I'm saving Kagome for Kakashi! Besides, little girls (though it pains me to say) do get raped by older guys. I hope those older guys rot in hell for eternity.


	18. Author's Note: MUST READ!

As much as it pains me to put up a dreaded author's note instead of a chapter, it is mandatory that I do so that I don't hear any complaints or questions asking why I'm not updating.

Since school starts this coming Wednesday, I will be forced to have limited computer time. I already said this, but I failed Geometry, so put in simpler words: FAILED GEOMETRY = LESS COMPUTER & MORE STUDYING.

So I will not be able to update until I have more than two days off, probably around Christmas break.

PLEASE CHECK OUT MY OTHER STORY I UPLOADED!

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FOR THOSE OF YOU THAT DON'T LIKE TO READ THE AUTHOR'S NOTES IN THE CHAPTERS, THE PAIRINGS ARE AS FOLLOWS:

Kagome/Kakashi (one-sided girl's crush until Kagome matures in Shippuuden)

ALSO, MINOR PAIRINGS OF:

Kagome/Gaara

Kagome/Neji

Kagome/Sasuke (eww, but I have to please some people)

Kagome/Itachi (really little of this until Shippuuden)

I **DO NOT** CARE IF YOU DON'T LIKE KAGOME/KAKASHI PAIRINGS! I HAPPEN TO LIKE KAKASHI VERY MUCH, SO THE FIRST FIC I EVER WROTE HAD TO HAVE HIM IN IT! THAT WAY I'LL STOP DREAMING ABOUT HIM! (Whoa, way too much information, Kuroi-san... O.O)

I WILL WRITE OTHER NARUTO FANFICS, PROBABLY MAINLY KAGOME/ITACHI (Itachi! Kyaa!), SO **STOP WHINING!** I'LL ALSO GIVE YOU A BOX OF YOUR FAVORITE POCKY SO THAT YOUR FEELINGS AREN'T HURT TOO MUCH.

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Also, I received a review that really pissed me off at first, and then I decided that they had a point. So, I decided to write them an apology letter. Don't read unless you want to.

***clears throat***

Dear mimi () (yes, I used your name)

It was not funny that Michael Jackson died. In case you're wondering, I am somewhat insane due to having a dad who is a jackass to my mom and I 90% of the time, and a mom that is constantly yelling at me or chewing me out about something. So I sometimes find temporary, sick, twisted humor in things that lasts about a day.

By the way, I LOVE MY MOM. But, as I said, she's yelling at me 24/7, so I get a little irritated and stressed, therefore I'm somewhat insane.

I removed the 'offensive material' that made you mad enough to call me a 'little girl' and tell me to grow up. I'm sorry for posting it; I have a sick sense of humor sometimes. ***bows deeply and respectively***

By the way, I'm sixteen and I'm gonna be a junior in high school this year, so I don't know if I'm _that_ little anymore :)

Deepest apologies

~Kuroi-san

(I hope that was 'grown up' enough for you. At first I was gonna yell at you, then I thought you'd probably write me another review saying how I just proved how immature I was. Luckily, I waited a day for my anger to die down and wrote you this. By the way, IT IS SINCERE.)

To everyone else, good luck in school if you're still attending, whether it's high school or college. I know _I'm_ gonna need it -_-;


	19. Chapter XVII: Plot

Yo, minna-san! I updated a lot sooner than expected! 'Cause my parents are forgetful! ^.^ I got Integrated Algebra II instead of Geometry, and it's a lot better than Geometry, 'cause the teacher actually explains how to do the problems!

**Also, check out my new profile picture! I drew it myself, in order to show you how I pictured Kagome's Sharingan. Go to my profile page to get a closer look, if you would please!**

Disclaimer: Heh heh heh, does it look like I'm plotting to steal InuYasha and Naruto as my own? ***whistles innocently and twiddles thumbs*** I don't own either of 'em.

**Ages:**

Kijikaku Sango – 16

Dokuhebi Jakotsu – 16

Shizei Renkotsu – 17

Taishou Rin – 6

Kijikaku Kohaku – 10

"talking"

'_thinking_'

'**Bijuu talking to host**'

**Chapter Seventeen: Plot**

-o-o-o-

Saikou sokudo no seimeitai ENERUGII  
Kanbatsu kaihi junkan kousei kairo  
Teitaion! Teitaion! Tobe, saa!  
KURASSHAA IN THE SKY  
Shintou, shinri, nazo nokoshi, kaerou  
Nani ga kinou no mama de  
Namida yogosareta no ka  
Saigo ni tonde itta kakera wo  
Kogashiteku, kogasu! Tobe, saa!  
KURASSHAA IN THE SKY  
Shintou shinri nazo nokoshi, kaerou

Energy of the soul, at top speed  
Drought, evasion, circulation, composition, circuit  
Hypothermia! Hypothermia! Come on, fly!  
Crusher in the sky  
Penetration, truth, let's leave the mysteries behind and go home  
What will still be dirtied by tears  
Like it was yesterday?  
The pieces that flew away in the end  
Gonna set 'em on fire, set 'em on fire! Come on, fly!  
Crusher in the sky  
Penetration, truth, let's leave the mysteries behind and go home

~ 'Raion' (Blood+ Opening Theme 4)  
Jinn

-o-o-o-

Neji was walking to the training grounds that he and Tenten had been using for the past couple of weeks. Gai-sensei hadn't helped him at all, not that Neji needed his sensei's help training. Gai had been hanging around the hospital and checking up on Lee several times a day. Neji found it rather ridiculous.

The sun was already up, and the sunlight was warm as it came down through the trees. Neji inwardly groaned at how hot it would get during the day. He needed all of his energy for his training, not for sweating out all his H2O during the day. The humidity in the forest was stifling, as well.

He smirked to himself; he hardly needed to train at all. The person he was going up against was that yellow-haired dobe, the dropout a year younger than him. He was loudmouthed, uncouth, and even more annoying than Lee. At least Neji respected Lee; he felt nothing but contempt for the blonde, Uzumaki Naruto.

'_What a loser. How did he even manage to become a Genin, anyway?_' Neji thought smugly to himself.

He paused at the sound of humming. Cocking his head, he wondered if he had wandered near a beehive. He realized it was not a continuous sound, but had varying notes. It was a _person_ humming. Curiosity getting the better of him, Neji followed the sound of the humming, trying to find its source. The sound of water splashing alerted him that there was either a pond or a stream nearby. Peeking around some bushes, Neji nearly ran back the way he came.

It was that infuriating girl again. Neji wondered why fate kept making him run into her. She was sitting beside a stream, clothed only in a bra and boxer shorts. What girl even wore boxer shorts, anyway? The sight of her made him feel queasy, because if she spotted him, stupid arguments would ensue. But what made him pause were the scars.

She was sitting with her back to him, so the scars that he could see most of at the moment were the long and thin silvery stripes going every which way across her back. There were several burn marks, too. But what caught his attention was the silvery-blue stripe going down her spine, and the strange tattoo of the same color resting between her shoulder blades.

Neji narrowed his pale eyes and swallowed. Had she been tortured? The thin, silvery scars on her back looked like whip marks, as if Kagome had been lashed. And the burn marks looked like they had been made with a red-hot poker, since they were round and slightly indented. They were older scars, considering their color – they weren't pink, like new scars – and the fact that they had been stretched by maybe a couple of years' growth.

He wondered at the tattoos on her back. Were they symbols of her clan? The intricate one between her shoulder blades intrigued him, and seemed familiar. It almost looked like some kind of seal…

A deep, guttural growl snapped Neji out of his thoughts. Turning around slowly, Neji found himself face-to-face with a large set of canine teeth that could probably tear his arm off. Raising his eyes higher, Neji met the golden-amber eyes of the dog that was currently staring down at him menacingly.

Neji gulped; if the dog decided to attack, he was in deep trouble.

-o-o-o-

Kagome hummed to herself as she used a washcloth to wipe off the sweat and dirt that she had accumulated for the past, dare she say it, _weeks_. She normally bathed daily, but when her training was involved, she stuck to it like glue and disregarded most of everything else, even keeping herself clean.

Once she got everything on her body, she walked into the stream. It went up to her knees, surprisingly, but it also met her needs. Taking in a huge gulp of air, Kagome dunked her head underwater and began to scrub at her hair, despite there being no shampoo. At least she'd get most of the filth out, anyway.

She resurfaced, gasping and spluttering. The water was pleasantly cool, and was clean enough to even drink from. The sun hit her with its warm rays, making the right combination of warm and cool. Trying to get her bangs out of her eyes, Kagome heard a distinct 'thump!' and an 'oof!' that sounded vaguely familiar.

"I brought a trespasser, Kagome-nee-san," came Shiromaru's voice, which was laced with disapproval.

"What did you catch this time?" asked Kagome with exasperation, still trying to sort out her wet bangs, "A neko (cat), or another inu?"

"Iie!" barked Shiromaru, "A slinking kouzou that was spying on you as you bathed!"

"Nani?" said Kagome, puzzled.

She finally managed to sort out her bangs and caught sight of Neji, who was trapped helplessly underneath one of Shiromaru's plate-sized forepaws.

"Oh, it's slug boy," said Kagome with boredom.

Neji narrowed his eyes at his nickname, but didn't say anything. He had a huge dog standing over him, after all.

"What do you want me do with him?" asked Shiromaru.

"I'm waiting for my clothes to dry out, so leave me be. Let him go and send him on his way," said a bored Kagome, turning away from both her ninken and the boy trapped underneath him.

"As you wish," said Shiromaru grumpily, who begrudgingly let Neji up.

Coughing, Neji managed to push himself up and back onto his feet. Wiping the trickle of blood coming out of the corner of his mouth, he stared at Kagome.

She noticed and said, making a shooing motion with her hands, "What are you still doing here? There's nothing interesting here, so go away!"

"Where did you get your scars?" asked Neji, before he could stop himself.

There was a long silence, and Kagome had her eyes narrowed at him all the while. Neji began feeling very uncomfortable under the scrutiny of her stare.

Finally, Kagome said with a suspicious voice, "You are already know the answer. Why did you bother asking?"

Neji didn't say anything; he didn't know why he wanted to know, either.

Kagome finally sighed and said, "If you're not going to say anything, then go away."

Neji didn't move; he just continued to stare. He saw that she had scars on her front, too. Her forearms and wrists had what looked like kunai marks on them. He wondered if she had tried to commit suicide when he looked at the ones on her wrists. There was also a dark, ruggedly-round scar on her shoulder, and what looked like rope burn scars on her ankles and possibly around her wrists, as well. He was busy taking in her tattoos, as well. Both were uncovered and went up to her elbows. They were so intricate that he wondered how long it had taken to finish just one.

"Eh-hem."

He blinked in surprise, and he realized he had been staring. Kagome was standing with her arms crossed and a foot tapping. She had an eyebrow raised, asking an unspoken question.

"You are staring," Kagome pointed out.

"Iie, I'm not–" began Neji, and then he noticed her state of undress.

He had been so busy staring at her scars that he had simply not noticed that she was wearing nothing but her boxer shorts and a sports bra. Neji's face turned bright red.

Kagome frowned and said, with very little sympathy, "Is there something wrong? You're not coming down with a cold or something, are you?"

Neji's face turned even redder, and he felt like his face was about to fry off when Kagome stepped closer, having a little concern despite her not liking him much.

Neji averted his face and hissed, "Put some clothes on!"

"Are (huh)?" said Kagome, looking down at herself.

She looked back up at him with confusion and said, "Nan de? It's not like there's anything to see."

At her words, Neji turned even redder; he begged to differ. Although it appeared she had not yet begun to develop in the chest department, the rest of her was lean and toned. She was a little _too_ lean, in Neji's opinion.

'_He's staring again,_' thought Kagome with irritation, '_Mataku, this guy's even weirder than I thought._'

"Oi!" she said angrily, snapping her fingers, "What's with you! Go away and leave me alone already! Can't you see I'm doing something here?"

Neji blinked. He hadn't realized that he had been staring at her once again. Coming to his senses, he smirked while closing his eyes.

"It's not like I'm interested in you anyway," he said, turning and walking away.

"Good! People like you are annoying!" Kagome called after him.

Neji paused; he had meant to make her angry at his comment. He turned and looked behind him at Kagome's face, which was pouting with anger.

'_What a strange person,_' he mused, disappear into the forest.

Kagome, meanwhile, pulled down one of her eyelids and stuck her tongue out at where the Hyuuga had disappeared.

"Good riddance, ya weirdo!" she yelled after him.

She was slightly disappointed when she didn't hear a response. Perhaps she had been away from InuYasha too long; secretly, she enjoyed most of their verbal fights.

'_Taku, that Hyuuga is an ass,_' thought Kagome, glaring at the spot where Neji had vanished.

-o-o-o-

'_Why do I keep running into that stupid girl!_' wondered Neji angrily, actually stomping his way among the trees.

He was behaving like a sullen child, kicking at stumps that he passed or making sure he stomped hard when he happened upon a particularly crunchy pile of dead leaves. At the moment, he was being a terrible shinobi by making a lot of noise.

'_She's so annoying! Why in the world does Fate keep making me bump into her…?_' thought Neji.

He froze. _Fate_ controlled everything. _Fate _was predetermined. _Fate_ did things for a reason. Why was he fated to keep bumping into Higurashi Kagome?

Neji nearly turned the color of sour milk. Did Fate want him to be…with _her_? Was Higurashi Kagome fated to be his _wife_? No, that was impossible! Neji shook his head, trying to understand why Fate would do such a thing. He tried to think of reasons _why_ Fate would choose someone like _her_.

Well, she was strong, and she appeared be of nobility, even if that nobility appeared to be the Hyuuga clan's long-time rival, the Uchiha clan. She was pretty, even Neji couldn't deny that. She _seemed_ to have manners, but she also seemed to choose to be uncouth most of the time.

But she didn't like him. Even Neji had his own group of fangirls, but not as big as Uchiha Sasuke's. The fact that Higurashi Kagome seemed to hate his guts made his blood boil. She _should_ like him! She _would_ like him!

Right then and there, Hyuuga Neji made his decision. He would make Higurashi Kagome fall in love with him, and she would be his wife! (1)

-o-o-o-

"I think you've got controlling the Saimyoushou down pretty good. You have even got them attacking now," said Touga.

InuYasha ignored his father and used his hand signals to tell the large wasps to attack various parts of an earthen practice dummy that Touga had set up. For some reason, probably due to humor on Touga's part, the dummy looked like Sesshoumaru. Smirking, InuYasha had one of the Saimyoushou dart in and jab its stinger right into the crotch of the dummy. Then he had another sting the dummy right in the middle of the forehead.

Touga had to put his hand up in front of his mouth to hide his smile. He had made the dummy look like his oldest son on purpose. Not only did InuYasha enjoy this part of the training, but when he used the Saimyoushou in actual combat, he would picture Sesshoumaru and attack without mercy. It had been a cruel twist of Fate that InuYasha had to go up against his friend and teammate. This part of the training would remove any hesitance that InuYasha would have normally had.

'_Take this, Teme-sama!_' thought InuYasha victoriously as another one of the wasps poked a hole in the dummy's behind.

'This_ is for the time you stole my candy bar! And_ this_ is for the time that you hung me upside down by my ankles from the highest balcony in Tsukigakure!_' thought InuYasha, openly grinning now and not realizing that he was saying what he was thinking.

"InuYasha…" said Touga.

"And _this_ is for the time you scarfed down the leftovers of the gaki's ramen, and left none for me! And _this_ is for the time you tied me up and used me for shuriken practice!"

"_InuYasha…_"

"And _that_ was for the time when you dared me to go into that creepy old Buddhist cave!" InuYasha crowed.

"He did _what_?" shouted Touga, his eyes bugging out.

InuYasha paused and turned to look at his father with confusion.

"Eh? What do you mean, 'he did what'?" asked the teen.

"Sesshoumaru dared you to go into Hora no Sou (the Cave of the Priest)? What for?" demanded Touga angrily.

"Was I talking out loud?" asked InuYasha a little sheepishly.

The Hora no Sou was a legendary cave near the outskirts of Tsukigakure. The reason it was a legend was because a distinguished priest of high spiritual power had supposedly barricaded himself in the depths of the cave in the hopes to attain Nehan (Nirvana). This event was said to have happened even before the citizens of Tsukigakure had taken it upon themselves to train in the way of the shinobi.

The cave itself was supposedly riddled with booby-traps that the old priest had set up himself so that he was not disturbed while trying to attain Nehan. But that was the kind of thing that usually attracted the curious. People, usually adolescent boys, dared themselves to enter and try to catch a glimpse of the old coot. When several people had died, the cave was declared off-limits. The deaths had scared off most of the curious people, but there were still some brave enough to enter and try to see the priest.

"We were trying to see who would get to eat the gaki's leftover ramen," InuYasha huffed, crossing his arms and pouting.

"And where was Kagome in all of this?" demanded Touga.

"She was playing shogi with Miroku back home."

"I suppose you came to your senses and didn't go into the cave?" asked Touga, sweatdropping because he didn't believe his son had.

"Are you crazy! I had to go in! If Teme-sama dares you to do something, you do it so that you can best him!" exclaimed InuYasha.

'_Don't call your aniki that,_' thought Touga, pinching the bridge of his nose and shaking his head.

"I hope you never went back in," he said to his son.

"The gaki and I went back in two days later," stated InuYasha.

"NANI?"

"We tried blasting open the back of the cave, 'cause it was blocked by fallen boulders. We managed to make a small hole. Guess what we saw behind the blockade?" asked InuYasha, actually enjoying the trauma he was giving his father.

"I could never guess," said Touga dryly.

"A dried-up old mummy sitting on a dusty old rug. I guess he didn't achieve Nehan, ne?" said InuYasha, grinning.

Touga slapped his hand against his forehead and rubbed it down his face tiredly. He had thought he had known everything that went on in his children's lives, but apparently he was wrong.

InuYasha blew air out of the corner of his mouth towards the top of his head; one of the Saimyoushou was happily chewing on his hair.

-o-o-o-

"Sasuke!" said Kakashi.

The young Uchiha jolted out of his thoughts, looking up at Kakashi with surprise. They were currently taking a brief break.

"Hai?" asked Sasuke.

"You were zoning off again. You've been doing it since last night," stated Kakashi.

"Sou ka?" said Sasuke.

"Sou desu ne. What are you thinking about?" asked Kakashi, squatting down next to his student.

"Nothing…" said Sasuke, looking away with a pink tinge to his cheeks.

"Hmm…" said Kakashi, narrowing his uncovered eye suspiciously at his student.

Sasuke began to grow uncomfortable with his sensei staring at him like that.

"If you say so…" said Kakashi.

"Of course I'm sure!" retaliated Sasuke angrily, giving Kakashi a 'it's-none-of-your-business' type of look.

The obsidian-haired boy got up and stomped off. Kakashi watched the Uchiha boy's back as he disappeared behind another boulder.

'_He's been acting weird since Higurashi-chan left. He hasn't been distracted during training, but when we're not…_' thought Kakashi, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

-o-o-o-

Miroku nearly choked when Sesshoumaru came up to him and tossed an unsheathed blade towards him.

"Here," said the older teen, as if he were tossing something as harmless as a small rock.

"Eh? Nan-! Agh!" said Miroku, catching the katana and trying to keep it from slipping out of his hands and cutting his fingers off.

When he finally got a hold of it, he clutched it protectively against his body so that it wouldn't slip another time.

"What the hell do you think you're doing? You could've killed me with that!" cried Miroku.

Sesshoumaru merely looked at him. Miroku glared and then realized that his sensei had thrown him an actual blade. He grunted in surprise and looked down at the sleek, silver edge of the katana.

"Are? What's with this?" asked Miroku, holding up the katana with one hand and pointing at it with the other.

"We'll use these for practice today," said Sesshoumaru, lifting up his own sword so that Miroku could see.

"But weren't we using wooden katana? What happened to that?" asked Miroku.

"You broke one of them, remember?" asked Sesshoumaru.

"Well, yeah, but can't you just get a replacement?" queried Miroku.

"Does it look like I'm made of money?" said Sesshoumaru.

Miroku looked Sesshoumaru up and down (3), taking in the fine but durable quality of the Tokubetsu Jounin's clothing.

"Hai," said Miroku, looking Sesshoumaru right in the eye.

Sesshoumaru sighed.

"We are using _these _today, because you require more strength to fight with these. When someone is fighting against you with a steel blade, they aren't going to hold back when they push their blade against yours. That's because they know their blade isn't going to snap, like a wooden blade would. It's also heavier, so it will build up your arm muscles more," explained Miroku's sensei.

"Ohhh…" said Miroku, understanding now, "Why didn't you just say so?"

"Because you didn't let me," said Sesshoumaru.

There was a moment of silence.

Finally, Miroku looked down at his katana and said, "So, how am I supposed to hold this?"

Sesshoumaru raised a thin, silver eyebrow at his student and said, "Like you held the wooden one. There isn't a difference."

"A _difference_?" Miroku spluttered out, "Like hell there isn't a difference! You could chop someone's head off with this!"

For emphasis, he hefted up the katana.

"That's what it's for, Miroku," said Sesshoumaru, his annoyance indicated by actually using his student's name.

"But what if I accidentally chop off one of my own fingers? Or yours? Or even your arm-" said Miroku, before Sesshoumaru grew tired of him talking and suddenly attacked.

Miroku yelped and parried Sesshoumaru's blow as he had been taught with the wooden practice sword. The katana was indeed heavier than the wooden blade, but it made up for that by giving good, solid blows.

Smirking, Sesshoumaru stood up straight and said, "Hora (see)? It's just like using the wooden katana."

Miroku breathed out shakily and tried to calm the adrenaline surging through his veins. His heart felt like it was about to pop out of his chest.

"Besides," continued Sesshoumaru, "as if you could even lay a finger on me."

-o-o-o-

Touran was once again leaning against a wall, and soaking up the sun. She was also outside the same shop as before, waiting for her brother to finish up his business inside. She had finally managed to convince Shuuran – threatened, really – to take back that damned fake opal and get his money back.

One of her blue eyes cracked open when she heard the door of the shop open, the bell above the door ringing cheerfully. Pushing herself away from the wall, Touran was about to make her way over to her brother. That is, until she saw the expression on his face.

It was the same exact face that he had worn when he had bought the supposed opal. It was excited and triumphant.

"Ne, aneki–" began Shuuran, but he was cut off swiftly by his older sister.

"SHUURAN! WHAT DID YOU BUY?" demanded Touran loudly, causing several passersby to scatter.

Sweat began to form on Shuuran's face, who had realized he was in deep shit.

"Eh…" he said, trying to find the right words.

"Let me see what you bought _this_ time!" said Touran, holding out her hand.

Hesitantly, Shuuran placed a small box into his older sister's palm. He gulped as she clenched her hand around it and then proceeded to open it. He began to quiver as her face turned a nice shade of red, produced from anger.

Inside the little box was another gem. This one Shuuran was familiar with; it was an emerald. Closing her eyes, she snapped the lid shut. Her left eyebrow twitched with a cross between annoyance and anger.

"Shuuran…" she gritted out, "How…can…you…be…SO…STUPID?"

"D-demo–!" began Shuuran, trying to explain.

"This _thing_," said Touran, holding up and pointing at the little box, "is the size of the iris in the human eye! A _real_ emerald would cost a lot more than what you paid for!"

"Nee-chan! Shunran likes shiny things! She won't mind!" stuttered Shuuran.

"The hell she won't! I'm going to take care of this myself!" said Touran, marching stiffly over to the door of the shop where her little brother had acquired both gems.

She jerked open the door, the bell ringing wildly. She marched over to the counter, and slammed down the box.

"Look here, you–!" she spat angrily, but paused when she saw who was manning the store.

"Can I help you?" asked the eight year-old girl that was sitting behind the counter, smiling up at Touran innocently.

"Watashi… That is…" breathed Touran, trying to find the right words to say.

Finally, she took in a deep breath and asked, "Why is a child like you looking after a shop like this?"

To emphasize, Touran gestured at the shelves that were filled with antiques, jewelry, and other oddities.

"Mama is training me for when I take over the shop!" chirped the girl happily, twiddling her thumbs happily.

"Sou ka…" said Touran in understanding.

"Ne, did you come in to buy something?" asked the young girl, cocking her head cutely and blinking her eyes.

"Ano…" said Touran, feeling herself being drawn in by the girl's large brown eyes.

Quickly, Touran glanced out of the front door of the shop. She could see Shuuran standing nervously against the wall she had been leaning against earlier.

"You see that man out there?" asked Touran, pointing at her brother.

The girl leaned over the counter to get a better look and smiled, saying, "Un! He was such a nice man! He wanted to buy the whole store out!"

'_Thank kami he didn't…_' thought Touran, sweatdropping.

She cleared her throat and said, "He brought back an opaaru. I've changed my mind; I want to buy it back."

"Oh?" said the girl, tapping her cheek thoughtfully, "You mean this one?"

The girl behind the desk reached behind the counter and brought out a familiar-looking box. She took off the lid, and lo and behold, there laid the dreaded opal.

"How much?" asked Touran, taking out her wallet.

"How does ninety ryou sound?" asked the girl.

When Touran didn't say anything, the girl suggested, "A hundred?"

'_This girl sucks at haggling,_' thought Touran.

"Ninety will do fine," she said quickly, forcing a smile.

"Done!" said the girl.

Touran handed over the money, and in exchange, the girl handed over the box.

"Have a good day!" said the girl, and Touran nodded.

She headed to the door, opened it, and walked out into the street. Shuuran hurried up to her anxiously. He opened his mouth to say something, but Touran slapped the opal, box and all, into his palm.

"That little girl must have some kind of supernatural power. I don't blame you," Touran muttered out of the corner of her mouth, before making her way down the street.

Shuuran stared after her, his mouth hanging open. He glanced down at the box and back at his sister.

Finally, he ran after her and said, "Chotto matte, nee-san!"

-o-o-o-

Shippou was being very cautious today. After the incident with Miyazaki, he was careful not to incur the ire of _anyone_. Today, he was walking in the streets of Konoha, keeping his head down, so not to draw any unnecessary attention.

The sudden eruption of noise the street over made Shippou look up with surprise. To him, it sounded like a brawl had broken out. There was the sound of yelling, and what also seemed to be the sound of punches being thrown. Shippou sweatdropped when he heard a chicken squawking (4). Shrugging, he turned and continued his way down the street.

-o-o-o-

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" said Kakashi.

He slammed his palm on the ground and Pakkun appeared in a puff of smoke.

"Yeah, Kakashi?" asked the pug, looking up at his summoner with tired eyes.

Kakashi had pretended to take another bathroom break, so that he could summon his favorite pug. He didn't have much time; even Sasuke wasn't that dumb, though Naruto might have fallen for it.

"I summoned you to ask you if you caught any interesting information from Higurashi Kagome," said Kakashi.

Pakkun scratched behind an ear with one of his hind feet and grunted thoughtfully.

"Well…" he said, thinking back.

He froze, his delicate foot still behind his ear.

'_Who gave you permission? Was it a creepy, pale guy named Orochimaru?_'

Kagome's words echoed in his head. The girl knew about Orochimaru. That meant… Pakkun sat up straight; this wasn't good.

"Kakashi," he said, looking the silver-haired nin in the eye, "Orochimaru has made contact with Higurashi-chan."

Kakashi's visible eye widened.

"You're sure?" he asked.

"Un. When I first met her, she was suspicious that about where my loyalty lay. She demanded if I served, I quote, 'a creepy, pale guy named Orochimaru'," explained Pakkun.

Kakashi rubbed his chin between his thumb and index finger. This certainly wasn't good news. It was bad enough that Orochimaru wanted to recruit Sasuke. But if he had already met with Kagome…

"What was her behavior like when she said that?" asked Kakashi.

"She was really distrustful. She seemed disgusted when she spoke of him," replied the ninken pug.

"That's good; it means she doesn't trust him one bit. If he tries to kidnap her by force, she's most likely to resist with all she's got," mused Kakashi, looking off to the side thoughtfully.

He looked back at Pakkun and said, "Anything else?"

"Other than the fact that she's stubborn as a mule? Iie," said Pakkun.

Kakashi smiled slightly and was silent for a moment, pondering whether he should inform the Hokage of this news.

Finally, he said, "I would like you to report this to the Hokage. Once you have done so, I would appreciate it if you would come back here and give me any messages or information from him. Wait in this spot after your return until I get a moment to come speak with you."

Pakkun nodded and said, "You got it."

"I have to get back to Sasuke. You can go," said Kakashi, standing up from his squat next to the little ninken and dusting his pants off, despite them having no dust on them.

Pakkun simply went to the edge of the cliff and began running down the side of it. Kakashi peeked over the edge to see the little pug hightailing down the cliff. Sighing, he turned to go back and train a certain young, grumpy Uchiha.

-o-o-o-

Jiraiya dumped Naruto's unconscious body to the ground. He had been carrying the boy for a little while, after effectively knocking him out by a blow to the stomach.

It had been three weeks since Jiraiya had started to train the blonde Genin, and he had improved very little in his attempt to summon a frog. So Jiraiya had decided to take measures into his own hands. If Naruto couldn't access Kyuubi's chakra by normal methods, then Jiraiya was going to have go for _extreme _ones, instead.

Groaning, Naruto began to push himself up from the ground. He managed to get on all fours before looking around.

"Are? Where am I?" he muttered, looking one way and then another.

Jiraiya strode over in front of Naruto and barked, "Stand up!"

Naruto, who was still a little dazed, obeyed and said, "What?"

"The training ends here," stated Jiraiya.

"Huh? Wait, I didn't learn anything!" yelled Naruto, shaking his hand at the Sennin.

"Naruto! Go die now," said Jiraiya.

"Shi (die)?" asked Naruto, his anger replaced by confusion.

"Try and extract the powerful chakra within you from the fear of death. And experience that with your body, and grasp the trick to do it. If you don't want to die, do something on your own!" said Jiraiya, before pushing Naruto in the middle of his hitai-ite.

Naruto merely gaped in surprise and horror as the push, powered by chakra, shot him backwards into the bushes. He kept going, the vegetation whipping past him and hitting him. Then the ground disappeared beneath him, revealing a huge canyon that had a waterfall flowing into it. Naruto's eyes widened, and he cried out as he began to fall.

Jiraiya, who was now standing at the edge of the canyon, thought, '_Now, let's see if the power given to you was really meant to protect you… This will be interesting._'

Naruto screamed as he fell into the canyon. The walls were lined with huge ledges and spikes of stone, and the air flying past him was picking up speed.

Looking at one of the spikes, Naruto thought, '_I have to grab one of these or I'll die!_'

He made a hand seal, and chakra flowed into his hands and feet. He eyed an upcoming ledge.

"Now!" he said, his hand grabbing hold of it, but it merely slid off with a squeaking noise.

Naruto screamed.

Jiraiya, who had seen this, thought, '_That's not possible. The rock surfaces here are slippery because of the waterfall. On top of that, at the speed you're falling, you cannot cling onto a rock with your current chakra control abilities. Naruto, all you can do now is to rely on the Kyuubi's chakra. Open the key. From your side, now._'

Heart beating frantically, Naruto thought, '_At this rate… At this rate… I'm going to die! I'm going to die… I'm going to die…_'

Everything faded to black. Naruto blinked as he found himself in what looked like the basement of a public building, complete with dripping pipes and a damp floor. The sound of running water could be heard. Naruto saw that he was on all fours and stood, water sloshing on the ground.

Looking around, Naruto saw that he was in some sort of hallway, with rooms and more hallways branching off from it. He gave a grunt of surprise when he heard a growling noise down the hallway from a door to the left. The sound came again, and Naruto went toward it to investigate. He entered the doorway and found himself walking down another hallway.

'_This feeling… It's that chakra,_' thought Naruto, seeing a bright light at the end of the hallway, where the growling was coming from.

Naruto entered the next room, squinting in the suddenly bright light. He gasped as he saw that he was standing in front of what looked like a couple huge cage doors.

"What's this…?" he said out loud, seeing that there was a piece of paper pasted over where the two doors of the cage met.

The kanji on the paper said 'Seal'. Naruto grunted in surprise when he saw what the cage held. From behind the cage doors, a huge pair of red, demonic eyes and a huge mouth full of sharp teeth could be seen.

'_He's huge… What is it?_' thought Naruto with fear.

The huge red eyes bored into his and a deep male voice said, "Kouzo, come closer."

Naruto did as he was told, and yelled when several huge claws lashed out at him from inside the cage. He narrowly dodged them by diving backwards onto the ground.

"I want to devour you, but this gate will not open. It is a detestable fuuin," said the being in the cage, narrowing its eyes.

"You're…" said Naruto shakily, on all fours on the ground, "Kyuubi!"

Getting up from the ground, he thought, '_Sou ka… So the akai chakra was his._'

Kyuubi's eyes suddenly widened and he said, "You came to me this time. Why did you come here?"

Naruto stared up in fear, and then he lowered his head to glare up at the Bijuu. Kyuubi gave a grunt of surprise.

"Hora, you dumb fox!" said Naruto loudly, smiling evilly, "Since you're staying in my body, give me your chakra as rent!"

Kyuubi stared at him for a second, and then opened his large mouth to laugh.

"You're saying that if you die, I'm going to die as well? You have guts, blackmailing me like that," said the huge fox, and red chakra began to pool out of his cage.

The chakra surrounded Naruto and began to wrap around him tightly, causing the boy to cry out.

"Very well. It's a reward for coming all the way here. I'll give it to you!" declared Kyuubi.

Naruto opened his eyes to find himself still falling in the canyon.

'_This is the feeling,_' he thought, biting his thumb to draw blood.

Yelling, he began to make the necessary hand seals and threw out his summoning hand towards the ground.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" he yelled.

Red and blue chakra formed under his hand, and there was a huge poof of smoke. Something very large formed underneath him, its arms and legs propping itself up on the sides of the canyon. Naruto grinned as the silhouette of the thing he had summoned came closer as he fell.

From above, Jiraiya smiled and said, "Well done."

Naruto yelped as he bounced onto the head of the huge toad he had summoned.

The toad, however, said, "Where the hell am I?"

Naruto, who had landed upside down, flopped onto his back.

"I'm saved…" he said, sitting up and rubbing where he had landed on his neck.

He looked at what he was sitting on.

"Sugee… This one's really huge. Sou ka…" he said, crawling across the huge toad's head to look at its feet.

"This is…a kaeru, right?" he asked himself, looking at its huge appendages.

He got up and began walking down the toad's back, and found it very steep, causing him to run fast down it. He managed to stop himself by skidding onto his butt.

Shielding his eyes, he said, "Let's see… There's no tail!"

Trembling with excitement, he said, "This one isn't like this," he pictured a tadpole, "or this," thinking of a froglet with a tail.

"It's a real kaeru!" he shouted, and started jumping up and down on the toad's back.

Jiraiya watched from up on the cliff, thinking, '_Hn. Looks like he was able to call upon Kyuubi's chakra on his own this time. But it seems that he hasn't mastered it yet. He used up too much of the big chakra. Of all things, he summoned _him_._'

The toad narrowed his eyes at the sensation of the blonde hopping on its body. Naruto sat back down and began slapping the toad's back, laughing triumphantly.

"I did it!"

"Oi, stupid gaki!" said the toad, leaning forward so that Naruto rolled up the toad's back and landed on its nose.

Naruto looked up at the toad and gasped from the sheer size of it.

"Are you the one? Whose head do you think you're prancing around on? I am the Gama Boss Gamabunta! You idiot! Be quiet!" roared the huge toad, his voice nearly blowing Naruto away; the boy had to hold onto the toad's nose and barely managed to stay on by using one hand.

He tried to pull himself back on, but he was blown away. He managed to grab hold of the huge pipe the toad had in its mouth. The toad finally stopped yelling and closed its mouth.

"What's this guy…" said Naruto, pulling himself up into the pipe bowl, "He seems strong, but…"

He was lifted in the air by the toad balancing the pipe on its tongue, which had several pearls pierced into it. Naruto was now eyelevel with the toad.

"I haven't breathed the air of the outside world in a long time," stated 'Gamabunta', narrowing his eyes at Naruto, "And there's a weird, noisy gaki on my head."

He began shaking the pipe around, yelling, "Oi! Jiraiya! Where are you, Jiraiya? What's the meaning of this?"

Up on the top of the cliff, Jiraiya was hiding behind a tree.

"This isn't good…" he said shakily, "Even I can't control Gamabunta that well."

"Jiraiya!" roared Gamabunta from inside the canyon, "Come out, you idiot!"

"It's going to be troubling for me if he finds me," Jiraiya said, starting to walk away, "It's time for me to take my leave."

Gamabunta peered at Naruto and said, "Oi, stupid gaki."

"Hai!" answered Naruto.

"Where's Jiraiya?"

"Huh? Ji-rai-ya? Who is that?" repeated Naruto, since he didn't know Ero Sennin's real name.

Gamabunta moved closer towards Naruto, narrowing his huge eyes at the boy. Naruto began losing his grip on the pipe bowl, flailing his arms about

"The perverted old man who calls himself the Gama Sennin (Toad Hermit)," answered Gamabunta, and Naruto fell onto his nose as he took away the pipe, "Where's Jiraiya? Huh?"

'_He's scary…_' thought Naruto, looking up at the toad.

"If you do as I say, I can make you my subordinate. So answer me!" demanded Gamabunta loudly.

"Ossu!" screamed Naruto, "Ero Sennin is at the top of this cliff! Gama Boss, sir!"

"At the top, ka?" asked Gamabunta, looking up at towards the top of the cliff.

"Ano, may I ask something?" asked Naruto nervously.

"What?" asked Gamabunta, looking back down at Naruto.

"Ano, what business do you have with Ero Sennin?" asked Naruto, his voice squeaky.

"That what I want to know!" yelled Gamabunta, "That perverted geezer… Why did he summon me to a place like this? What is he up to?"

"Ah, demo…" started Naruto.

"What?" asked Gamabunta again.

Naruto laughed nervously while rubbing the back of his neck; his cheeks were pink.

"I'm the one who summoned you, Gama Boss, sir. I fell off this cliff, so I was hoping something would help me… Ossu!" said Naruto, saluting Gamabunta.

"Hmmm? Hm? Hm?" said Gamabunta, actually looking at Naruto for once.

Then he began to laugh, throwing his huge head up into the air.

"That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard! A small kid like yourself could never summon me!" said Gamabunta, smiling.

"I'm telling the truth!" protested Naruto, "I really did summon you!"

Gamabunta went off on another round of laughter. Naruto glared at him, angry that the toad did not believe him.

Finally, he yelled, "You stupid frog!", which made Gamabunta stop laughing and look back at him.

"Don't get so cocky just because I'm being polite here!" ranted Naruto, "I summoned you, so that means I'm your master!"

"Hmm? What did you say? Do you know who you're talking to? You aren't even old enough to drink yet, and you're saying that you are the great Gamabunta's master? Do you want me to kill you?" roared Gamabunta.

He stuck out his long, sticky tongue and wrapped it around Naruto. He tossed the boy onto his back, maneuvered his arms and legs into place, crouched, and then jumped upwards. The force of the jump was so great that Naruto was pressed against the toad's back, blue in the face. There was a huge explosion of air as the huge toad came out of the canyon, and continued to climb higher into the sky. Finally, he began to go down, and Naruto had to cling to the jacket the toad wore in order to stay on.

Naruto screamed as Gamabunta landed into the forest, trees being crushed under the toad's body. There was another huge explosion as air began to whiplash away from where he landed. Trees within a five-mile radius bent from the force of the explosion.

Jiraiya, who was a long ways from he started by now, said, "Wow. Looks like he came out."

Naruto screamed as he fell from Gamabunta's back and onto the ground, landing on his face. He stood up and gaped up at Gamabunta.

"Sugee…" he said, seeing how big Gamabunta was from the ground.

Gamabunta laughed and put his mouth right next to Naruto, saying, "Hey, gaki! Even if I assume that you summoned me, I'm not going to accept a guy that falls off my back so easily. Huh? Huh?"

He pushed his snout against Naruto, who tried to push him away.

The huge toad took his snout away and said, "Now, I haven't been out here in a while, but if Jiraiya has no business with me, I'll just hang around here."

He turned his back towards Naruto.

"Oi! Matte yo!" cried Naruto.

"Go home and sleep!" dismissed Gambunta, "You can't even handle being my subordinate."

He started walking away, laughing wildly. Naruto watched him for a second, and then ran after the toad.

"Kuso!" he yelled, running to catch up with the large amphibian.

He jumped onto the toad's back, flipped over Gamabunta's head, and landed on his snout. He stood, looking defiantly up into Gamabunta's yellow eyes.

Gamabunta, surprised, said, "What are you trying to do, gaki?"

"If you're going to accept the fact that I summoned you if I don't fall off your back, I'll stay here all day, and not fall off!" said Naruto, sitting down with his back to Gamabunta's eyes and crossing his arms and legs.

"Nani?" said Gamabunta.

"And I'll make you accept me as your master," added Naruto, sending Gamabunta a glare.

"You stupid kid!" growled the toad, "I was being nice, and now you've grown impudent."

He began rubbing his nose vigorously against the ground, making Naruto hold on for dear life.

"Fall!" demanded Gamabunta.

He started shaking his nose in the air.

"I need to attach myself with chakra!" cried Naruto, but Gamabunta was shaking his head so hard that it was impossible to even try.

"I don't have enough chakra!" he cried.

Gamabunta was now swirling his nose in the air viciously.

"Listen up carefully, Gama Boss!" cried Naruto, "My name is Uzumaki Naruto! I'm the man who's going to become Hokage one day! Remember that!"

"I don't care!" growled Gamabunta, shaking his head back and forth.

Jiraiya, who was sitting in a tree above the waterfall where he and Naruto had been training, was watching this through a spyglass.

He chuckled and said, "Looks like something interesting is happening."

A girly cry came from below, and he looked down. Pushing aside some branches with surprise, his face turned perverted and pink. He giggled and took out his spyglass to watch the girls in bikinis below him that were playing in the water near the waterfall.

"I should help Naruto, but I shall return to my original task," he said quietly, laughing perversely, "Data gathering. Data gathering."

-o-o-o-

"Huh. They're having barbeque again," said Kankurou, watching Asuma and his team enter the barbeque shop again, "It must be a reward for training like they're told to."

He was leaning against the balcony of their temporary quarters.

"I believe you were ordered to keep an eye on Gaara," said Temari, who was sitting against the wall nearby.

"Daijoubu. Even _he_ won't do anything weird during the day. By the way, that Shikamaru guy is the one you have to fight first. Don't you have to come up with a plan?" asked Kankurou slyly.

"Hmph. There is no way I will lose to a guy at that level. Also–" she said, but she was interrupted by Kankurou.

"But you messed up," stated Kankurou.

"Eh?"

"If you had take the exam earlier, you could've become a Chuunin easily," said Kankurou.

Temari lowered her head and closed her eyes, saying, "Don't say that."

_***Flashback**__*_

_A couple of months before, back in Sunagakure, Baki had gathered his students to speak with them about important matters. Kankurou and Temari sat on a bench in the room, while Gaara leaned against the wall._

"_Eh?" said Temari, not believing what she was hearing from her sensei, "What did you say?"_

"_For this Chuunin exam, Suna no Sato will make you three take it. But it is not so you can become Chuunin. It is so you can take advantage of the Chuunin exam and crush Konoha no Sato," stated Baki._

"_Naze (why)?" asked Temari, "Aren't Konoha and Suna allies?"_

_Baki lowered his head and 'hmphed', saying, "That alliance treaty is the problem."_

"_What do you mean?" asked Kankurou. _

"_You Genin do not know the details,' began Baki, "but after the treaty was signed, Kaze no Kuni's idiotic daimyou… He forced us, Sunagakure no Sato, to reduce our armaments. He became a client for Konoha, when he should have been giving missions to our village. Also, he greatly cut the budget for our village, and greatly reduced the number of shinobi for the country, as well. When the head is stupid, we, the arms and legs, have a hard time. To maintain our power, our village had to raise the quality of each individual shinobi."_

_He turned towards Gaara and said, "That's why shinobi like you were created, Gaara."_

"_The security of Kaze no Kuni is very low right now," Baki continued, "But that daimyou and his attendants do not understand that!"_

_He pounded his fist against the map that was behind him on the wall, causing one of the photos on the wall, which was of the current daimyou, to go crooked._

"_Kazekage-sama sensed danger in Sunagakure's power decrease," said Baki, "so he has concluded that we need to cooperate with Otogakure and destroy Konoha. This will regain Suna's dignity, and we will let the idiotic daimyou understand the important of crisis management for this country!"_

_He slammed his hand against the wall, and the daimyou's photo finally fell, lying facedown on the floor._

"_If we waste anymore time, Suna will lose power to battle Konoha. Now is the time," said Baki, stepping away from the wall and standing with his hand behind him._

_He looked at his redheaded student and said, "This mission… Gaara, it depends a lot on your performance."_

"_Sure," said Gaara emotionlessly, glaring at no one in particular._

"_Once the mission is executed, we will go to war with Konoha," said Baki._

_Temari gasped and said, "Another war? The alliance treaty was created after so many sacrifices, and now it's going to be voided…" Kankurou turned to look at her, "and a lot of people are going to die again."_

"_Oi, Temari"' exclaimed Kankurou._

"_This is all Kazekage-sama's will," said Baki firmly._

_Temari grunted in surprise and looked up at Baki, clenching her teeth in anger._

"_Kazekage-sama's?" she asked bitterly._

"_Shinobi are tools of war. The alliance treaty only threatened our existence. This is a Super A-class mission. Proceed with caution," said Baki._

"_Ha," acknowledged Kankurou._

_After a couple of seconds, Temari looked down with defeat and answered the same as her brother._

_***End Flashback**__*_

Kankurou yawned widely and said, looking at the sun, "When you're doing nothing, the day seems long."

"Sou da no (that's right)," agreed Temari quietly.

-o-o-o-

Kijikaku (5) Sango was the oldest child of the leader of the Kijikaku clan. But despite being the oldest, she was not the heir, though she was currently in charge of the clan. That position went to her younger brother, Kohaku, not because he was male, but because Sango was destined to become the wife of the heir to the Kazetani clan. Sango liked Miroku – no, she loved him, but she wasn't about to admit it – but she was tired of his womanizing ways. The only reason that Sango was head of the clan for the moment was because her father had died on a mission a couple years earlier, her mother had died giving birth to her brother, and her brother was not yet sixteen, which was the earliest age to start ruling a clan.

She wore a black, skintight outfit that covered most of her neck like a turtleneck, which she covered over with a shorter, looser pair of pants that were also black. They came halfway to her thigh. She wore a pink keiko-gi that had no sleeves as a shirt over the top half of the suit. She tied her pink hitai-ite around just above her right elbow. Sango had a plain katana tucked into the pink obi she had tied around her waist. The knot of the obi was tied on her right side, where its endings trailed.

Sango had dark, chestnut brown hair, which she kept tied up in a high ponytail most of the time with a pink hair tie. Her eyes were a light brown, and she had magenta eyelids, which she had had tattooed on at an early age. She had evenly cut bangs, but two longer pieces also hung just in front of her ears. She also had a ninja familiar, a little cat named Kirara.

Kirara was mostly used for distraction, though her tiny jaws could deliver a powerful and deep bite. She had a cream-colored coat with tiny black feet. Her ears were black, and her two tails, which were a result of careful breeding and genetic mutation, had black stripes wrapped around the ends. There was also a black, diamond-shaped mark in the middle of her forehead. She had a ruff of fluffy fur above her shoulders, and her huge red eyes, with thin, black slits for pupils, were thinly outlined in a way that made her look like an ancient Egyptian. (6)

Sango looked up in awe at the mountain that had the four Hokage faces cut into it. She had heard about them, of course, but she hadn't thought that they would be so magnificent.

"Ne, Sango-chan! We have to go find the others, remember?" came the voice of her teammate and one of her companions for this journey.

"Hai…" sighed Sango, turning towards Jakotsu, the one who had just spoken.

"Where do you reckon we should look?" asked Renkotsu, Sango's other teammate and cousin to Jakotsu.

Dokuhebi (7) Jakotsu was a very feminine-looking – as well as sounding – male. He wore a fighting kimono that was pastel purplish-pink that was tied in the middle with a magenta Tsukigakure hitai-ite. Around his neck was the customary purple scarf that was worn by all members of the Dokuhebi clan. Jakotsu also kept one of the sides of his kimono rolled up, in order to expose his left leg. Attached to his back was his prized weapon, the Jakotsutou ('snake bone sword'), which had blades that were retractable as well as segmented. They could curve outwards a long distance from Jakotsu himself, making his moves unpredictable. Besides the Jakotsutou, he also wore the usual shuriken holder and kunai pouch.

On his face were two blue tattoos that ran from both his bottom eyelids and down his cheeks, looking like twin tear streaks. His hair was tied up in a two, loose feminine buns that were on top of each other and held in place with a large hairpin that had a blue bauble made of thick glass attached to it. He had very feminine red lips that he had been born with. It was very difficult to discern if Jakotsu was a woman or man, even from up close. Only those who knew him knew the identity of his gender.

Shizei Renkotsu, on the other hand, was definitely male. He, Jakotsu, and their other cousin, Bankotsu, were all cousins. Their mothers had been from the same family. Renkotsu and Bankotsu's fathers were also from the same family, the Shizei clan, though Bankotsu was the current heir. Renkotsu did not hold his cousin any ill will for that, but they were not very close, either.

Renkotsu had a handsome face that had purple tattoos that streaked up from under the sides of his chin and nearly to the top of his head, where they forked very slightly. He also had an intricate tattoo of the same color in the middle of the two ends of the other tattoos, which looked like someone had tried to do a pictograph of an African gazelle (8).

He wore a light blue hitai-ite that covered the whole top of his head and was tied in the back, while the ending of it hung down between his shoulders in the back. It made him look vaguely like a Yakuza ('Japanese mafia', 'Japanese gang') member. He wore a haori of the same color that was divided up into patches by carefully sewn black stitches. He also wore tan hakama that were stuffed into the tops of his ninja sandals. The haori was secured in place by a light-purple obi.

He was a prodigy in Katon-type jutsu, was decent in Taijutsu, and was also very good at creating all kinds of explosives. In his spare time, he liked to work with metal and machinery. He was famous in Tsukigakure for creating highly flammable oil that he would spew from his mouth and onto his enemies, who he would then set on fire with a jutsu. Renkotsu was as nearly as gifted as Kagome in being a strategist while in battle.

"Maybe we could look for Kagome-sama!" chirped a happy Rin, who had accompanied Sango and her team.

Rin was also a member of the Taishou clan, though she was actually the ward of Sesshoumaru. That Sesshoumaru would take in such a sweet little girl baffled many, but it suited Rin just fine. Rin had been found by Sesshoumaru and his Genin team three years before, when Rin had been three years old. Her village, further to the east, had been destroyed by nukenin (missing-nin). Though Rin had instantly bonded to Kagome, she refused to leave Sesshoumaru's side, and clung to him wherever he went. Sesshoumaru seemed to enjoy the girl's company, and made sure that her every need was met. He visited her whenever he had free time, as well, though she was currently beginning her training as a kunoichi.

Rin wore her black hair loose, but she had a little ponytail pulled off to the side, which stuck out cutely. Like Sesshoumaru, she wore sashinuki hakama, though hers were autumn orange. She wore a cream colored haori as a top. Rin's eyes were a warm, chocolate brown. She also spoke in third person, referring to herself as 'Rin'.

Rin smiled a lot, and she was the top of her class when it came to flower arranging. She was also showing promise becoming a Healer, thanks to Kagome's help. She often picked flowers for Sesshoumaru and arranged them to show how she was progressing in class. The stoic heir of the Taishou clan didn't often show it, but he was very proud of Rin, and the little girl knew it.

Interestingly enough, Rin resembled a young Kagome, though their eyes were different colors. That three people, Kagome, Kikyou, and Rin, that looked liked each other should end up in one place sure was an interesting coincidence.

"Knowing Kagome-chan, she's probably training her ass off right now. We should probably leave her alone," said Renkotsu.

"I think we should go find InuYasha-kun!" said Jakotsu happily, while his teammates sweatdropped.

Another interesting fact about Jakotsu was that he was more interested in the male species than the female. If a male mistook him for a girl and asked him out, Jakotsu would willingly oblige, if the person asking him were good-looking enough. Once he was found out, Jakotsu usually had to make a quick getaway, much to his own chagrin. But Jakotsu seemed to especially like InuYasha, who did his best to hide whenever the homosexual male was on the prowl for his 'Inu-koi'.

"Let's just go find the Tsukikage," said Sango, smiling while continuing to sweatdrop.

Rin laughed and ran up to Kohaku, who had stayed quiet this whole time. The boy was somewhat shy, though he was extremely kind. Kohaku was dressed the same as Sango, though where Sango had pink, Kohaku had green. Like Sango, he had a katana tucked into his obi. His hair and eye color was the same as Sango, though he tied his shoulder-length hair back into a short, samurai-style ponytail.

"I can't wait to see Kagome-sama again, Kohaku! She'll be so happy to see us!" exclaimed Rin, clinging to Kohaku's elbow.

"H-hai…" said Kohaku, blushing pink at the mention of Kagome; he had had a crush on Higurashi Kagome as long as he had known her.

"Yoshi! Ikuzou!" said Renkotsu, grinning.

-o-o-o-

Back in Sunagakure, Baki was having an audience with the Kazekage and his guardians. He sat in the middle of the room on a cushion, his head bowed. Two guardians sat on either side of him a foot in front of him. The Kazekage himself sat behind some screens, a guardian sitting on either side of him.

"I appreciate your work, Baki," said the Kazekage.

"As planned, the three have advanced to the main matches, Kazekage-sama," said Baki.

"Hm. The agreement with Oto is proceeding smoothly?" inquired the Kazekage.

"Ha," said Baki, looking up.

He took out a maroon-colored scroll and placed it in front of him.

"This is the scroll with Oto's plans," explained Baki, as the guardian on his left got up to retrieve the scroll.

The guardian walked over to get the scroll, then to the screens, pushed aside one, and handed the scroll to the guardian on the Kazekage's right side. Then the guardian returned to his own cushion on the floor.

"Do you have something else to say?" asked the Kazekage.

Baki straightened and said, "Iie."

"Nan da? Say it," said the Kazekage.

Baki lowered his head and said, "Ha. Is it possible to fake a training session so that we can arrange to move troops near the border? The four of us alone might–"

"Konoha is not stupid," said the guardian on the Kazekage's right, "Their ANBU members are moving around."

"If we do that," said the guardian on the Kazekage's left, "they will discover our intentions."

"But with our current force–" began Baki.

"That is why we made Gaara and the two go," stated the Kazekage, "The restoration of Sunagakure's dignity depends on your performance. Now, iku (go)."

"Ha!" said Baki, bowing his head before disappearing in a poof of smoke; he was going to return to Konoha.

-o-o-o-

The Hokage looked up at the sound of something pawing at the window to his right. To his surprise, he saw that Kakashi's ninken Pakkun was sitting out on the roof, looking in.

'_Why on earth did Kakashi send Pakkun? Did something happen?_' wondered the Hokage, getting up from the desk in his office and walking over to the window.

He pushed the window upwards to open it, and the little pug stepped daintily onto the windowsill.

"Yo, Hokage-sama," said Pakkun, before jumping down onto the floor and then up onto the Hokage's desk.

The Hokage closed the window after Pakkun and walked over to his desk. He sat down in his chair and took a drag from his pipe.

"What news do you bring me, Pakkun? I haven't heard from Kakashi since he up and disappeared a few weeks ago," he said to the pug.

"I have urgent news. Orochimaru has made contact with Higurashi Kagome," said Pakkun.

The Hokage blinked; Orochimaru was moving a lot faster than he had previously thought.

Leaning back in his chair, he said, "And how did Kakashi come across this information?"

"I told him, actually. I found out about this when Kakashi asked for me to go and retrieve Higurashi-chan. He required her…assistance," explained Pakkun, remembering that Sasuke's location had to be kept confidential.

"Sou ka?" said the Hokage, raising an eyebrow suspiciously.

But he decided to let it go. What Kakashi was doing was Kakashi's business, and nobody else's. And if Uchiha Sasuke _was_ with Kakashi, the boy would be protected.

"Wakatta (I understand). Tell Kakashi 'arigatou' for me," said Sarutobi, standing.

Pakkun bowed his head and jumped off the desk. The Hokage went and opened the window for him, whereupon the little dog jumped up onto the windowsill and took off running across the rooftop. Sighing, the Hokage closed the window. He stared out of it, his eyes distant.

'_Higurashi Kagome is becoming nearly as troublesome as she is helpful. I wonder what she is doing now?_' he thought.

-o-o-o-

Golden-colored flames dug into the ground, causing wide gouges to appear. The sound they made was like a cross between a forest fire and an earthquake. Or a tornado, since that was what the flames resembled, due to Kagome and her Kage Bunshin using their fans to push the flames the way they wanted with Fuuton jutsu.

Kagome was excited; she had finally gotten her jutsu to work! To see the fruits of her effort playing out in front of her made her heart pound with exhilaration. But she didn't stop to rejoice. The move was far from perfected. For starters, the flames had yet to go out, and seemed immune to Fuuton jutsu, despite how strong the gusts. Though the flames didn't burn, they were as sharp as blades. The thin cuts across Kagome's face and legs testified for that.

Another problem with the flames was that if they were not kept in a swirling inferno for even a few seconds; they would flare outwards. That was one of the reasons Kagome was covered in cuts.

The flames were smaller than what she planned on using for the Main Exam. The ones she planned to use would be around three stories high, and would use quite a bit of chakra and reiki. Flames of that height around here would alarm the local shinobi before the Main Exam, so Kagome kept the flames to a minimum.

"We're going to put the flames out with a Suiton! Ready?" Kagome yelled over the sound of the flames.

"Ready!" said two of the other Kage Bunshin, while the last one said, "But we aren't anywhere near water!"

"Baka! There's enough water in the air to supply Suna no Kuni with a hundred year's supply!" Kagome snapped.

Kagome began making the hand seals necessary as fast as she could, reciting them in her head.

'_Tori, Ushi, Saru, U (Rabbit), Ushi, I (Boar), Ushi, Uma (Horse), Saru, Tora, Inu, Tora, Mi (Snake), Tora, Ushi, Saru, U, Tori!_'

"Suiton: Daibakufu no Jutsu (Water Release: Great Waterfall Technique)!" she and her clones shouted.

Just as the flames exploded outwards, great columns of water appeared in front of Kagome and her Kage Bunshin. The columns slammed into the flames, extinguishing the flames almost immediately. Kagome at once saw the flaw in her plan to use the Suiton jutsu to put out the flames.

Her Kage Bunshin screamed as they were destroyed by the column of water from the Bunshin opposite of them. They and Kagome had, after all, been standing on each of the four cardinal points, North, South, East, and West. Kagome barely had enough time to put up a spiritual barrier, holding both hands out in front of her, before the column of water rushing towards her slammed into it. Kagome gritted her teeth at the force of it, but stood firm against it.

Another thing she hadn't been expecting was that the force of the blow caused most of the water to be propelled into the air. Kagome shrieked as the water dumped down onto her from the sky. She held her breath until it was done, and then she dropped her barrier. Spitting out the mouthful of water she had, she surveyed her clearing.

"Whoa," was all she said.

The whole clearing was reduced to a solid, muddy mess. Kagome gaped, her mouth hanging wide open. She wouldn't be able to use the clearing to train now!

"Oh, this is just perfect! Baka! Baka!" she berated herself out loud, stomping on the ground.

Doing so splattered mud onto her clothing. Kagome glared at the muddy ground at her feet. Seeing as how she was already sopping wet and covered in mud, she sat down on the ground with a heavy sigh, pushing her sodden bangs out of her eyes. She had yet to cut her hair, so she glared at it.

A sudden sound of someone clapping made her jump.

"That was impressive, Higurashi-chan," called out a strangely familiar voice.

Whipping out a kunai, Kagome stood and said, "Who's there!"

"Don't you remember me, Higurashi-chan?" asked the unknown person, walking out to where she could see them.

Kagome's eyes widened and she lowered her kunai with surprise.

"Kabuto-san!" she said.

Yakushi Kabuto smiled and said, "Glad you could remember me, Higurashi-chan."

"You don't have to call me that! Kagome-chan would do just fine," said Kagome.

"Well, then, _Kagome_-chan, you certainly have a lot of talent," said Kabuto.

"Eh… Arigatou, demo…" began Kagome, and then she paused.

"Chotto matte! How long were you watching me?" Kagome demanded, pointing at Kabuto.

"After you summoned up those flames," said Kabuto, laughing nervously and rubbing the back of his neck.

"That's kind of creepy," Kagome muttered.

"I was just passing by, when I heard the sound of a tornado or something. I was curious, so I came to check it out," explained Kabuto.

"Though," he continued, pushing at the mud with one of his feet, "you might have overdone it with that Suiton. I nearly got washed away myself."

"Maybe you shouldn't spy on people when they're training," said Kagome, crossing her arms and raising an eyebrow.

Kabuto laughed and said, "Point taken. Do you have a name for that jutsu of yours?"

"Iie, that's the first time it worked," said Kagome sheepishly.

"You should give it a good name," said Kabuto, "Well, I'll be seeing you around, maybe."

He turned to begin leaving, and then paused.

He turned around and said, "Ne, Kagome-chan? I heard through the grapevine that you have the ability to use the Sharingan. Is that true?"

A tick mark appeared on Kagome's forehead.

Kabuto jumped when she yelled up to the sky, "Does _everyone_ in this village know who I am?"

"I take that as a yes," said Kabuto, smiling nervously.

"Hai. I can use the Sharingan. What about it?" asked Kagome grumpily.

"Oh, nothing. Just wondering. Ja ne!" said Kabuto, and turned to begin walking away.

Kagome watched his retreating back until he was swallowed up into the forest. When he was gone, she sighed and sat back down into the mud. It was at this moment that Shiromaru, who had been out exploring the forest, returned.

He took one look at the clearing before looking pointedly looking at Kagome and asking, "Did I miss something?"

Kagome buried her face into her hands and made a muffled sound of frustration.

-o-o-o-

'_Still keeping secrets from me, aren't you…Orochimaru-sama?_' thought Kabuto as he strode through the forest.

He had been keeping to the shadows ever since his encounter with Kakashi, and the forest was a good enough place to hide out in. He just had to make sure he didn't run into any shinobi that were training for the Chuunin exam.

Kabuto was sure that Orochimaru had known about Higurashi Kagome and her ability to use the Sharingan for some time now. It made him fume to think that even though he was the Hebi Sannin's right-hand man, the older man continued to manipulate and lie to him. But it also didn't surprise him. Orochimaru was renown for being crafty, and Kabuto believed that he didn't trust anyone, not even Kabuto himself. Kabuto thought that Orochimaru had the right idea, for not trusting him.

Chuckling to himself, Kabuto thought, '_If that's what game you have in mind, Orochimaru-sama, then I'll play along._'

-o-o-o-

"What the hell are _you_ doing here?" yelled InuYasha, pointing at Sango and her companions.

One of Sango's eyebrows twitched. Not even five seconds had gone by after finding him and his father, and she was already annoyed at him. Kirara mewed in sympathy from her place in Sango's arms.

"We were invited," said Sango coolly, "by your father."

InuYasha turned towards Touga and said, "What the hell did you invite _those two_ for?"

He pointed at Renkotsu and Jakotsu. Touga opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by Jakotsu.

"Inu-koi! I've found you!" squealed Jakotsu, running towards InuYasha with his arms out wide, ready to embrace his love.

InuYasha turned various colors. First he turned white, then gray, and then a sickly green color.

"Iie!" he shrieked, "Iie! Get away from me, you weirdo! Stay back!"

He began backing away, and when he saw that Jakotsu wasn't going to stop, he turned tail and began running away as fast as his legs would carry him. Jakotsu ran after him, shouting for his Inu-koi to come back. The two were swiftly lost from sight. Touga stood with his mouth hanging open, and a Saimyoushou flew over and landed on his hair, where it started munching on the white strands happily.

"I didn't know he was _that_ fast. Either his speed has improved or he's more afraid of Jakotsu-kun than he was of you ladies when you were chasing him," Touga addressed the Saimyoushou.

Sango cleared her throat.

Touga looked at her and said, "Oh, right! It's good to see you, Sango-chan!"

Sango sweatdropped and said, "It is good to see you as well, Tsukikage-sama."

"Haven't I told you to call me Touga? Only when we're in public are you to call me by my title," said Touga, grinning.

"Sou, Touga-san," said Sango, her sweatdrop enlarging in size.

"Touga-jii-san!" cried Rin, running up to her adopted grandfather and hugging his leg.

"Rin-chan! Sesshoumaru will be happy to see you!" said Touga, smiling fondly down at her.

"Aren't you happy to see Rin, too, Touga-jii?" asked Rin, pouting.

"I am! I am! But Sesshoumaru will probably be even more glad, ne?"

"Hai!" chirped Rin.

"Where are Kagome-chan, Miroku-sama, and Sesshoumaru-sama?" asked Sango.

"Miroku-kun and Sesshoumaru are off training somewhere in the vicinity. As to Kagome-chan…I have absolutely no idea," said Touga, smiling nervously.

"And you call yourself a chichi (father)," sighed Sango.

"You know how Kagome-chan is! She likes to go off on her own for training. I haven't seen her for a little over three weeks," said Touga.

"That long? What if something has happened to her?" asked Sango, worried for her younger friend.

"I'm sure Kagome-chan is fine," said Touga, but Sango didn't miss the shadow that entered his eyes when he spoke.

"Oi, jii-san! Did Bankotsu get into the finals?" asked Renkotsu eagerly.

"Iie. InuYasha beat him."

Renkotsu began to laugh and said, "I'll have to shake his hand for that! I knew my weak cousin wouldn't make it!"

"I assume Kagome-chan made it into the finals?" inquired Sango.

"Hai," said Touga.

Sango smiled and said, "No surprise there."

Kirara mewed in agreement, and then she turned towards Touga and chirped.

Although his clan used dogs, Touga smiled warmly and said, "Hello to you, too, Kirara-chan!"

Then the Tsukikage turned towards Kohaku, who was partially hiding behind his older sister.

"Kohaku-chan! You're awfully quiet, as usual!" Touga greeted to the young boy.

Kohaku noticeably jumped.

"Eh? Ano… Konnichiwa, Touga-sama," said Kohaku shyly.

"Hora, Sango-chan? Even Kohaku-chan here remembered to call me by my name!" laughed Touga.

"That's because you reminded _me_!" spluttered Sango.

Renkotsu laughed at his teammate, who glared at him.

In order to change the subject, Sango asked, "So, has Kagome gotten into any trouble, yet?"

Touga immediately grew serious. He sighed and rubbed his forehead between his thumb and other fingers of his right hand.

"Let's go back to our temporary quarters and I'll fill you in on what has happened so far," he said.

He picked up the Saimyoushou's hive that lay near his feet and ordered the large wasps to return. They did so, though the one on his head was hesitant to leave. Sango was worried about her leader's sudden change in mood. Was something going on with Kagome?

-o-o-o-

Gamabunta landed heavily at the base of the waterfall where the girls in bikinis had been playing earlier. The girls were gone now, but Jiraiya was very upset about it. He was standing up on top of the cliff where the waterfall poured.

"No! The sexy gals' fun spot!" he cried with indignation.

Naruto who had managed to stay on Gamabunta all day, was twirling like a ballerina, his arms raised and one leg up straight in the air.

"I have to hold on a bit longer…" he said, "I'm not going to fall!"

He made a hand seal and summoned eight Kage Bunshin to help him as he lost his balance on top of Gamabunta's head.

"What?" said Gamabunta.

'_Naruto summoned chakra in that state?_' marveled Jiraiya, since Naruto was far past his limit and had run out of chakra ages ago.

Naruto began to fall, and his Kage Bunshin ran after him to catch him. One grabbed his hand, and that Bunshin began to fall. Another grabbed that Bunshin's hand, who also began to fall. This process repeated until the last Kage Bunshin managed to keep hold of all of them, who were swinging dangerously and crying out.

"I'm going to fall!" cried Naruto.

The last Bunshin pulled the next one up and disappeared. The next one pulled the one after it up, and disappeared. This repeated until Naruto was safely atop Gamabunta's head once again. But Gamabunta shook his head again in a last-minute effort to get Naruto to fall. Naruto held on, and once Gamabunta was still again, began to laugh, and got up to start jumping up and down. He was clearly giddy for having nearly beaten Gamabunta at his own game, and also from exhaustion.

"See that, Gama Boss? I'm still on your back!" cried Naruto with excitement, though he sounded tired.

"I win!"

Naruto continued to laugh, and then simply fainted, sliding off of Gamabunta's brow and downwards.

"No!" breathed Jiraiya, "If he falls from there, he'll die!"

Naruto continued to fall, and was almost to the ground when Gamabunta stuck out his long tongue so that the boy could land on it. Naruto lay limply on the toad's tongue, and Gamabunta wrapped it around the boy's body, lifting him up towards the toad's face.

"That's too bad," said Gamabunta, "You were close to winning."

Jiraiya, who had been crouching on the edge of the cliff, stood and hefted the summoning pact scroll on his shoulder.

'_He stayed on _the_ Gamabunta during all that time,_' he thought, and turned to leave, chuckling.

He paused and considered the scroll for a moment, while Gamabunta placed Naruto on his head once again. Smirking, Jiraiya threw down the summoning scroll on the bank near Gamabunta.

"Hm?" said the toad, as the scroll unrolled itself to show where Naruto had signed his name.

'_Jiraiya,_' thought Gamabunta with amusement, '_that wasn't necessary… I know that he summoned me with his own powers. Since the last person who was able to get on top of my head was the Yondaime._'

Gamabunta smiled and thought, '_He must be dead tired by now. I can share some of my power, but taking him back there would be best for him.' _

-o-o-o-

"Itadakimasu!" cried Kagome, digging into the fish that she had cooked.

She bit into the flaky skin and burnt her tongue on the hot, juicy flesh underneath, but she didn't care. She was so hungry, she could eat a horse! After Shiromaru had come back, Kagome had used Katon jutsu after Katon jutsu in order to dry out her training area. After that, she had gone and caught some fish for her and Shiromaru. So she was hungry _and _exhausted that she didn't know if she wanted to eat more or sleep more.

Shiromaru stared Kagome, who was chomping away at her fish as fast as she could.

"Don't choke," he muttered.

-o-o-o-

There was a huge explosion of dust outside the Konohagakure Hospital. Those inside jumped and looked out the windows, if they were able. The doctors and nurses gathered around the window, trying to see what had made the noise. But all they saw when the dust cleared was a smiling unconscious Uzumaki Naruto, lying next to a huge footprint of a certain toad.

-o-o-o-

Sasuke stared into the dying fire that lay in the middle of their campsite. It was well into the night, but he couldn't sleep. Even though he was physically exhausted, his mind was well awake. He just couldn't stop thinking about her! She, who was an enigma to him, whose name Higurashi Kagome! No matter how hard he tried to think about something else, the more he thought of her.

Uchiha Sasuke had never given any thought to girls. During his younger years, he had focused on training hard so that his father would acknowledge him. After the death of his clan, he had still focused on training hard, but for an entirely different reason. He trained so that he would be strong enough to defeat Itachi, the traitor that had murdered his clan. Itachi, his older brother…

But now, all he could think of was how smart, and strong, and pretty Higurashi Kagome was. Was he weak, to be having such thoughts? He was confused about why he was even thinking about a girl at all. What was different about her?

The answer came to him almost as soon as he had asked himself the question. Higurashi Kagome did not swoon or sigh in his presence, or even respected him. She passed him off as a mere weakling, someone not worthy of her attention. Even when she had heard what clan he came from, and how powerful it was, she had simply shrugged and turned her back on him! She hadn't even cared!

Sasuke gritted his teeth in anger. Higurashi Kagome dared to even go up against him! Him, the heir to the Uchiha clan! He would show her that _he_ was the superior one!

"You know, if you stare into the fire any longer, your retinas are going to fry off."

Blinking, Sasuke came back into the real world. He looked up to find that Kakashi-sensei had returned, and was squatting near him by the fire. He hadn't even noticed the Jounin return!

"Nani?" asked Sasuke.

Kakashi sighed, and rubbed his eye tiredly. It was too late in the evening for this. He had just come back from talking with Pakkun, whom he had sent back to the little ninken's home. Now he had to deal with a Sasuke whose head was up in the clouds most of the time.

"Look, Sasuke, it's good that you're taking your training very seriously now. But you also have to stay alert when you're _not_ training. Got it?" asked Kakashi.

"Hai," responded Sasuke, nodding with shame.

"Yoshi. Now get that girl out of your head until the Final Exam is over," said Kakashi, turning back to look into the fire.

Sasuke stared at Kakashi in shock; how had he known? When the Jounin didn't move or speak, Sasuke uneasily slipped into his sleeping bag, turned his back to the fire, and began reciting the hand seals for various jutsu. Within minutes, his heart and breathing slowed, and he fell into dreamland.

Kakashi sighed again; he was still trying to decide whether he should take Kagome on as a student. If he and Sasuke arrived in time to see her battle in the Final Exam, perhaps he'd be able to make up his mind.

_**Owari**_

-o-o-o-

**Omake: No Room**

It was starting to get very crowded in the room that Touga and the rest were residing in. There were currently _twelve_ people sprawled out on the floor on futons, lying whichever way they would fit.

"Move over!" said Shippou, digging his elbow into InuYasha's side.

"Itai!" said InuYasha, jerking out of the way and smacking the back of his head into the back of Miroku's.

Miroku, who had been asleep, jerked awake and said, "What did you do that for?"

"Shaddup! This gaki made me move, is all!"

A sandal was thrown at InuYasha's head and it hit him in the nose. InuYasha gave a yell and glared at the one who had thrown the sandal. It was Sango.

"Quit throwing shit, Sango!" yelled InuYasha.

"Quit yelling, InuYasha!" demanded Touga.

It was immediately quiet. InuYasha grumbled and lay back down. He didn't dare do against his old man right now; Touga was the only one preventing Jakotsu from glomping him.

-o-o-o-

**Author's Notes**

(1) He is so full of it, his eyes are brown!

(2) He's one to talk… -_-;

(3) That sounds kinda perverted…

(4) I was reminded off of 'Mulan' that there are a couple of disaster-filled scenes where a chicken could be heard making a hell of a lot of noise. Just a random thought

(5) "Kijikaku" means "demon slayer". Very unoriginal… -_-;

(6) Did you know that Sango means 'coral', Kohaku means 'amber', and Kirara means 'mica'?

(7) "Dokuhebi" means "viper". I chose this because "Jakotsu" means "snake bone"

(8) That's what it looks like! I swear! ^o^

-o-o-o-

Forty pages! That's ten more than usual! I hope you liked the chapter! Remember to review! I like reading them!

Ja ne! ^.^


	20. Chapter XVIII: Monster

I wanted to get this updated in time for Christmas as big Christmas present to everyone, but I didn't make it. So, Merry LATE Christmas to all!

Also, I have had some inquiries about _where I live_. At the moment, only Narnia-Moons knows where I live (you'd better remember that PM, Narnia-Moons :I). I'm not about to tell you directly, so I'm gonna give you some hints:

_I live in the least-populated state (no, Alaska and Rhode Island have more people than my state)_

_I live a little over an hour from the world's largest open-pit coal mine_

_I worked at Fossil Butte National Monument this summer as a volunteer (look it up, it's even on Wikipedia, people!)_

_I live about half an hour to the east from the town that starts with a 'K'_

Those of you that find out the general area where I live, I'm not a hillbilly or anything like that. I happen to like where I live, since I grew up here in this state. However, I have also lived near Jackson, Ohio; outside Phoenix, Arizona; and near Prescott, Arizona. I was born in Las Cruces, New Mexico.

My dad's a wildlife biologist, so I know a lot about wildlife. My mom's really smart, despite her working at the local grocery store. She's got a wacky sense of humor, and is as insane as I am. Apparently it's inherited… -_-;

Disclaimer: I own nada! (Looks like three years of Spanish is paying off…O.O)

"talking"

'_thinking_'

'**Bijuu talking to host**'

**Chapter Eighteen: Monster**

-o-o-o-

Hoshi wo atsumete  
Tsukuru suna no oshiro ni  
Watashi no sasayaka na inori  
Koborete ochiru  
Sono asimoto wo  
Machibuseta nami ga sarau  
A WORLD OF DARKNESS…  
A WORLD OF SILENCE…  
Kie kakaru inori  
Kaze ni aorare nagara

The stars are collected  
In the made 'castle of sand'  
My little prayer  
Smashed under those footsteps  
Ambushed and carried by the wave  
A world of darkness…  
A word of silence…  
A prayer that disappeared in the wind

~ 'Suna no Oshiro'  
Wakeshima Kanon

-o-o-o-

Kagome sighed with relief as the steamy, hot water poured down onto her body. She kneaded at her shoulder with one hand, trying to rid it of the stiffness that she had woken up with. She rolled it in order to loosen up the muscle, and began massaging her other shoulder once the first felt better. Looking down, Kagome grimaced as she saw all the dirt coming out of her hair getting washed down the drain. Training before cleanliness was one of her rules when she needed to train especially hard, but this was ridiculous! She nearly had all of the soil in Hi no Kuni coming out of her hair! No wonder Shiromaru had sent her a snide remark about her smell, right before she sent him back to his home.

Grabbing her bottle of shampoo, she squeezed a decent amount of it into the palm of her hand. Then she rubbed both her hands together to get the shampoo on both palms and began lathering it in her hair. She scratched at her scalp to dislodge any dirt that had settled there, and began rinsing the shampoo suds out. Another rule that Kagome went by was having odorless shampoo and conditioner. It didn't do you any good hiding if you used flowery scented shampoo and your enemy was someone with an especially good nose.

After rinsing, she squeezed some conditioner into her hand and repeated the same process as she had with the shampoo. Kagome made sure she rinsed quite well, so that her hair would not dry and feel greasy due to leftover conditioner. Taking a bar of soap, she washed all the mud and sweat off of her body, scrubbing hard. After rinsing that off, Kagome turned off the shower and slid open the clear shower door.

She grabbed the towel that she had found in one of the cupboards and began drying herself off. Putting the towel over her head, she scrubbed at her hair so that the water in it would soak into the towel. Then she wrapped the water around her hair in the back – which was getting too long for her taste – and squeezed it to get most of the water out.

Kagome wrapped the towel around her body and went to the door that adjoined the room with the shower and the one with the toilet (1). As she passed the steamy, defogging mirror, she noticed how long her hair was. It was getting the longest it had been for years now, and Kagome found that now was the time to cut it. Opening and then slipping out the shoji door, Kagome looked around to see if anyone was in the main room. Finding it empty, she ran over to her bag and pulled out yet another set of clothes.

These clothes were the same as the ones she usually wore, except for the fact that they were not made out of silk. Kagome referred to these as her 'last-minute clothing', which she only wore when her current supply of clothing was in need of washing. Kagome usually brought along the 'last-minute clothing' when she was on a mission or away from home for a week or more.

Grabbing the clothing, Kagome darted back into the bathroom, nearly tripping over the stack of futons in the corner of the room. She briefly wondered why there were so many, but pushed it to the back of her mind. Sliding the shoji door shut again, she began to dress.

First she put on fresh underclothes, and then slipped on the set of clothing that she had gotten out of her bag. She nearly sighed at the feeling of the fuzzy texture of the clothing, and wondered why she didn't wear these clothes more often. Then Kagome simply slipped on her sandals and went to the sink where she had her hitai-ite soaking to clean it of dirt and sweat (2).

Kagome wringed the water out of the cloth of the hitai-ite as best she could. She tied it around her upper arm (whereupon it began to dampen the surrounding material) and let the water begin to drain out of the sink. She replaced her bandages around her arms and then her gloves. Next, she put on her weights and her leg warmers. Then she strapped on her kunai pouch and shuriken holster, taking out a kunai in the process. She placed the kunai on the counter next to the sink, and picked up the comb that lay there. With the comb, she began to untangle her hair.

Once thoroughly combing out her hair, she flipped her head a couple of times to get air into it. This was a trick she used to dry her hair faster. Then she grabbed her hair, picked up the kunai, and swiftly cut her hair as short as it had been when she had first arrived in Konoha. As she began leveling out the thickness and length of the ebony locks, she thought of how her hair had looked before she had cut it. If it had been allowed to dry, her hair would have made her look like she had a porcupine on the back of her head.

'_Kinda like that Ero Sennin's hair,_' Kagome mused, sweatdropping a little.

Or maybe like a chicken's butt, except hers stuck out in every which direction. She'd be damned before she let anyone see her hair when it looked like that Sasuke kid's hair.

Kagome gathered up most of the hair she had cut off and threw it away into the garbage can in the bathroom. She really didn't care if anyone got their hands on it now. Then she picked up her dirty clothes and exited the bathroom.

'_I wonder if they have some kind of laundromat here in Konoha? That would be really handy,_' she thought.

She gathered up the rest of her dirty clothes and stuck them into her pack. She was also not going to walk around Konoha with her underclothes for everyone to see. She hefted her pack over her shoulder, and looked down to make sure that all of her belongings were there. Her erhu case was lying flat on the ground, Sou'unga leaning against the wall beside it. The fan that she had bought was folded neatly and tied to the hilt of the big sword with the rope that she used to secure it to her back.

Nodding, Kagome made her way over the shoji door. She reached for the little rectangle-shape hole set into the wood to slide it open, but she grunted in surprise when it seemed to slide open on its own accord. The person behind the door blinked in surprise when she saw Kagome.

There was a second of silence as Sango and her teammates stared at Kagome in surprise, who was in the same state.

"Flat Chest!" Sango cried after that second, flinging her arms around Kagome's shoulders and giving her a bone-crushing hug.

Kagome yelped in surprise and recovered from her shock, saying, "Hello…Sango-san…!"

Her voice was strained, because Sango was currently suffocating her with her hug. Kagome returned the hug, though she sweatdropped from what Sango had called her. 'Flat Chest' was Sango's nickname for Kagome ever since Kagome hit age eleven, and it looked like it would be for a while yet.

Sango pulled away from the hug and grinned, saying, "It's so good to see you! We were surprised to see you–"

She paused, and scrutinized Kagome. She stepped away and squinted her eyes, looking back at herself and then Kagome. Sango began pointing at herself and then Kagome, muttering under her breath. Kagome, as well as Renkotsu and Bankotsu, gave her a weird look.

Finally, Sango said, "Have you gotten taller?"

A tick mark appeared on Kagome's forehead.

"IS THAT A SHORT JOKE?" she roared, shaking her fist at Sango angrily.

"Iie, I think she's right," said Renkotsu, squinting his eyes to get a better look at Kagome.

That didn't help at all; it made Kagome think that her new growth was so small that it was barely noticeable.

"Sou desu ne!" said Jakotsu happily, who thankfully didn't squint his eyes.

"You came up to _here_ last time I saw you," said Sango, pointing at a certain height on her body, "and now you're _here_. Sugee! That's almost _three_ inches!"

"THREE INCHES?" (3) yelled Kagome with astonishment, holding the sides of her face.

A door down the hallway out of the room opened and a man's angry face popped out.

"Oi! Keep it down! Your room has been nothing but noisy all month!" he complained.

"Urusei (shut up, slang version of 'urusai') (4) na!" said Kagome, looking out into the hall at the man, "I haven't even been here in this room for three weeks!"

"Urusai, gaki! You should respect your elders!" yelled the man.

"Do you wanna go, old man?" Kagome yelled back, holding up a fist at him.

Seeing that this would probably end badly unless someone interfered, Sango stepped between the two angry people and bowed, saying, "Sumimasen for my friend's behavior. We'll take our conversation outside."

Then she firmly grasped Kagome by the upper arm, her grip having bruising force. Kagome opened her mouth to protest, but caught a warning look from Sango. She let herself get dragged away by an irritated Sango, followed by a smirking Renkotsu.

"Have a good day!" chirped Jakotsu cheerfully to the man as he slid the shoji door to their room shut again; he sounded like some kind of salesman.

The man merely glared, and then spun on his heel and returned to his room with a 'hmph!'. Jakotsu ran off after his teammates, humming happily. An elderly woman he passed in the hallway wondered if he was one brick short of a load and quickly edged away from him.

Jakotsu found his teammates and Kagome on the ground floor outside. They hadn't been very many floors up, so it had taken them only a couple of minutes to get outside. The homosexual male smirked when he saw that Sango and Kagome were arguing.

"…Really, Kagome, why do you have to always go and start fights?" asked Sango, sighing and rubbing her forehead.

"Because it's fun?" offered up Renkotsu.

"I'm not talking to you!" Sango snapped, and Renkotsu looked away sulkily.

"He's right. It is fun," agreed Kagome.

"That's not the point here! You can't just go and start fights with strangers!" said Sango.

"I'm a ninja. We do it all the time," said Kagome dryly.

"Okay, a _civilian_ stranger!" huffed Sango.

"Oi, it wasn't my fault! He accused me of something I didn't do! I haven't even been here all month!" protested Kagome.

"He didn't know that, Kagome! Taku, I sometimes wonder if you're a boy in disguise," said Sango, sighing again.

Kagome didn't say anything.

"I mean, you dress in those clothes. It's okay for a girl to wear them when she's younger, but you're a teenager now. You should start wearing more feminine cloth–" started Sango, before she was interrupted by Kagome.

"Hell no! I wouldn't be caught dead wearing anything remotely girly!" screeched Kagome in horror.

"Kagome-chan… It's not appropriate for a girl your age and rank to go around wearing shorts–"

"Ra ra ra (5)!" Kagome sang loudly, covering her ears with her hands, "I can't heaar youuu!"

Sango raised an eyebrow at her younger friend's childish behavior. Renkotsu looked like he wanted to burst out laughing.

'_It looks like talking to Kagome about her attire is hopeless. Maybe if I went to Tsukikage-sama…_' pondered Sango, ignoring the sound of Kagome singing 'ra ra ra'.

"You're absolutely right," said Sango suddenly, causing Kagome to pause and uncover her ears; even Bankotsu and Renkotsu looked at their teammate in surprise.

"Eh?" said Kagome with confusion.

"You're right. What was I thinking?" said Sango, smiling at her friend.

Kagome seemed to sense that something was amiss, because she narrowed her eyes at Sango suspiciously.

"I am?" she asked cautiously.

"Hai! Now, it seemed like you were going somewhere before you bumped into us. Was there somewhere you wanted to go?" asked Sango innocently.

Kagome readjusted her pack's strap on her shoulder, and edged around the older girl.

"Iie. I was just going to…look around," she said with caution, still watching Sango with suspicion.

"Well, you'd better get to it, then! Ja ne!" said Sango cheerfully as she waved at Kagome.

Kagome gave her a weird look and instantly disappeared as a blur over the rooftops, hopping from one roof to another. Sango shielded her eyes with her hand as she watched the other kunoichi leap out of sight. When Kagome's form disappeared, she let out yet another sigh.

"Okay, what are you planning?" asked Renkotsu.

"I was that obvious, huh?" said Sango sheepishly.

"I think even a three year-old child could tell you were up to something," added Bankotsu.

Sango sweatdropped and said, "Arigatou, Bankotsu-kun."

"So, why did you agree with Kagome-chan?" asked Renkotsu.

"It was obvious she wasn't going to listen to me."

"And?" Renkotso prompted.

"I'll just go talk to somebody that she _will_ listen to. Do you know where Tsukikage-sama is today?" asked Sango.

Bankotsu and Renkotsu exchanged looks.

"Did he tell you anything…?" asked a sweatdropping Bankotsu.

"Iie, I don't think so…" said Bankotsu, rubbing the back of his head, nervously smiling.

'_They're no help at all…_' thought Sango.

Suddenly, Bankotsu snapped his fingers and said, "Matte! I think Touga-san said that he and Inu-koi were going to relax today!"

His gaze was met with blank stares from Renkotsu and Sango.

"Well? Where do people go to relax?" asked Bankotsu, obviously already knowing the answer.

Sango and Renkotsu exchanged looks and said hesitantly, "The…onsen (hot springs)…?"

'_What is she planning?_' thought Kagome nervously, chewing on one of her fingernails.

She was currently walking around in one of the streets of Konoha, her head lowered slightly and her brow furrowed in thought. Her subconscious mind allowed her to avoid running into people and navigate without too much trouble (6).

The reason that Kagome was so nervous was because Sango could be very devious in her planning. Not to mention frighteningly clever. The fact that Sango had changed her tune while arguing with Kagome had immediately set the latter on edge.

Kagome could just imagine what Sango was planning. Maybe Sango would somehow knock her out, and when she came to, she would be wearing a pink frilly dress and a hair bow.

'_Or maybe…_' thought Kagome, chewing on her nail more vigorously, '_she'll go to tou-san… She's knows that I listen to him!_'

She stopped in the middle of the street and said out loud, horror etched on her face, "She wouldn't!"

Nearby people were giving her strange looks, and then shook their heads and went back to what they were doing. Kagome smiled sheepishly at them.

"A-ano…who are you t-talking to, Kagome-san?" came a shy, familiar voice to Kagome's right.

Startled, Kagome wheeled to face who had spoken to her. To her surprise, she found herself looking at Hinata.

"H-hinata! Sumimasen, I didn't see you! I was…kinda lost in my own thoughts," admitted Kagome.

"D-daijoubu, K-kagome-san. G-genki desu k-ka (how are you)?" asked the Hyuuga girl.

"Genki desu (I'm fine)! But I should be asking you that, since you were badly hurt the last time I saw you. I'm glad to see that you're okay," said Kagome, smiling with relief; she had been worried about what had happened to Hinata.

"A-arigatou, Kagome-san…" said Hinata, placing a hand over her heart, "The d-doctor said that I should be f-fine, as long as I don't p-push myself. I won't be a-able to train for a little while…"

Kagome looked at the glum girl's face and smiled, saying, "Maa, at least you're able to go outside and walk around!"

"That's t-true…" admitted Hinata.

Kagome suddenly realized that Hinata was probably not alone. And she remembered the hostility that the girl's sensei had had towards her the last time that they had met.

"Eto…your sensei isn't anywhere around, is she?" she asked, nervously looking around for the red-eyed woman.

"She's in o-one of the shops with S-shino-kun and Kiba-kun. I wanted to stay outside; it's n-nice today," said Hinata.

"Ah. Well, I'd better get going, then," said Kagome, smiling nervously.

"D-doushite?" asked Hinata, cocking her head slightly.

Kagome gave a nervous laugh, rubbing the back of her neck.

"You see, when you fell unconscious during the preliminaries, I tried to help you. But your sensei thought I was trying to hurt you or something, so we're not exactly on good terms," she explained.

"Oh… D-demo…if it was a m-misunderstanding…" began Hinata.

"Hinata! Who are you talking to?" came Yuuhi Kurenai's voice.

'_Too late,_' thought Kagome, mentally groaning.

"Kagome-san, K-kurenai-sensei," answered Hinata, turning to face the older woman.

Kagome was filled with dread as she watched Kurenai, followed by Shino and Kiba with Akamaru on top of his head, approach her and Hinata.

"'Kagome-san'?" repeated Kurenai with confusion at first.

Then her eyes met Kagome's, and the latter nearly shrank back as the other's eyes hardened.

"O-ohayou gozaimasu, Kurenai-san," said Kagome shakily, bowing in respect, "Sumimasen, I was just passing by–"

"Why did you save Gekkou Hayate?" asked Kurenai abruptly.

Kagome looked up in surprise. She looked into Kurenai's hardened but determined face.

"Why…did I save Gekkou Hayate…?" repeated Kagome in confusion, looking around to see if anyone else was listening in on the conversation.

Kurenai's students were looking back and forth from their sensei to Kagome in confusion. Well, Shino wasn't moving at all, and you couldn't see his eyes because of his sunglasses, so his reaction to this meeting was a little bit of a mystery.

"Hai," said Kurenai curtly, her mouth set in a thin line.

"Ano… He was in trouble…?" said Kagome, rubbing the back of her neck and smiling nervously.

"That's a pathetic excuse of an answer. Hayate is a native of Hi no Kuni. You are from Tsuki no Kuni. Why did you save him, even though you hardly know him, and you are from different countries?" asked Kurenai, narrowing her eyes at Kagome.

"I told you, didn't I?" Kagome burst out angrily, "I was passing by, saw that Hayate was about to get his head lopped off, and decided to intervene! He seems like a nice guy, and the other guy just seemed like bad news!"

'_Not to mention the fact that I heard their entire conversation, so I knew who was the good guy…_' Kagome added to herself sheepishly.

Kurenai noticed that the girl was holding something back, and had also refrained from speaking of who Hayate's attacker was in front of her students. She took in the girl's appearance. Kagome was glaring at Kurenai, her lips scrunched together and her jaw set determinedly. Kurenai decided to ask her one last question.

"Why were you wandering around out so late? It was nearly one in the morning when Hayate was attacked," Kurenai pointed out.

Kagome, tired of Kurenai's interrogation, decided to mess around with the Jounin woman's head.

"I was having a late-night rendezvous with my lover," she stated coolly, managing to keep a straight face.

The effect on the other five (including Akamaru) was humorous. Hinata gasped and turned bright red. Kiba's mouth dropped open and his eyes bulged, and Akamaru whined. Shino's eyebrows raised a fraction. Kurenai did a mixture of the others: she gaped and her eyebrows shot up.

Finally, Kagome couldn't hold it in anymore. She burst out laughing, slapping her knee in the process.

"Gomen nasai!" she gasped, doubled over with laughter, "I couldn't help it! You weren't expecting it, so I had to–ha ha ha! You should have seen the looks on your faces!"

After Hinata got over the initial shock, she giggled when she realized what Kagome had done. She quieted when Kurenai looked at her.

"Hora! You shouldn't mess with people like that!" roared Kiba, pointing at Kagome with a red face; Akamaru yipped with agreement.

Shino, as usual, said nothing, but he did cock his head slightly to the side, as if in puzzlement by Kagome's behavior.

Kagome, still snickering a little, froze when Kurenai looked her in the eyes and…_smiled_. She relaxed only slightly when she saw that the smile, though small, was not unkind. Then she tensed up again when the red-eyed woman walked up to her, stopping only a couple feet away. Kagome hated the fact that she had to crane her neck to look up at Kurenai; the Jounin was actually tall for a woman.

"I don't entirely trust you, Higurashi Kagome…" began Kurenai.

'_The feeling's mutual,_' thought Kagome dryly.

"…but I think that I was misguided in my actions toward you. For that, I am sorry," continued Kurenai, bowing slightly.

It was Kagome's turn for her mouth to drop open.

"O-onegai…! You don't have to apologize–!" she began; she actually hated hearing people apologize to her.

"_But_," said Kurenai sternly, effectively quieting Kagome in the process, "if you give me any reason to distrust you further, like harming one of my students on purpose, you will not like the outcome."

'_Threats. Oh, joy,_' thought Kagome.

"Am I understood?" finished Kurenai.

"Wakatta, Kurenai-san," said Kagome, bowing in response.

Once she had straightened back up, she said, "But I do have one question."

"Nan desu ka?" asked Kurenai, raising an eyebrow.

"Is there a laundromat here in Konoha?" asked Kagome sheepishly, rubbing the back of her neck again.

Kurenai blinked, obviously surprised; she had been expecting a question relevant to the previous conversation.

"H-hai. There's one about four streets over," she replied, pointing to her left.

Kagome smiled and said, "Arigatou! I have some clothes that need washing."

She turned to Hinata and said, "I'm glad to see you're feeling better, Hinata-chan. Ja ne!"

"Ja ne, Kagome-san…" said Hinata quietly, smiling a little.

Kagome turned her attention to Kurenai and said, "Ja ne, Kurenai-san."

Then she walked around Kurenai and began passing Kiba, Akamaru, and Shino.

"Ja ne, Kiba-san, Akamaru-kun. Good luck tomorrow, Shino-san," said Kagome, politely.

"Good luck, Kagome-san," said Shino quietly, surprising everyone listening.

Akamaru yipped in response to Kagome's words, giving her a doggy grin. Kiba smirked and closed his eyes, happy that an attractive girl had spoken to him. Kagome waved back at them as she walked down the street.

Once Kagome was out of sight, Kiba looked up at Akamaru with irritation.

"'Akamaru-_kun_'? What'd you do for her to call you that?" he asked grumpily, and Kurenai let out a small laugh.

-o-o-o-

Temari and Kankurou exchanged confused looks when they heard pounding on the door to their quarters.

"Oi!" came Baki's voice, "Open up!"

Kankurou opened the door, followed by Temari.

"What do you want this time?" asked Kankurou exasperatingly.

"Bakamono (you fools)!" roared a livid Baki, "I told you not to let your eyes off of him!"

Temari and Kankurou gasped with realization and horror. Exchanging angry looks, they took off running towards Gaara's room. They slid open the shoji door, revealing the dark but empty interior.

"Did Gaara…?" breathed Temari, breaking out in a cold sweat.

"Where did he go?" gasped Kankurou with horror, also in a cold sweat.

Baki passed them in the hallway, walking up to the sunny window at the end of the hall.

Narrowing his eyes, he thought, '_I hope nothing happens…_'

-o-o-o-

Miroku looked around him with a little bit of puzzlement. He was currently sitting on a bench outside of one of Konoha's multiple teahouses. Sesshoumaru had asked Miroku to wait outside while he went inside to get the tea. Looking down at his knees, Miroku stared at the katana that he had been using for training.

'_Shouldn't we be training?_' wondered Miroku, and looked up to see Sesshoumaru approaching with two cups of tea.

"Here," said Sesshoumaru monotonously, handing Miroku one of the cups.

Miroku took the cup, feeling the warmth of the tea inside. He stared down into the tea's green depths as Sesshoumaru took a seat beside him. Then the Tokubetsu Jounin simply began taking sips of the green tea while staring off into the distance.

When Miroku didn't start drinking his, Sesshoumaru asked, "Is there something you wish to ask me?"

Miroku jumped and said, "Ano… Well, I was thinking…"

"Hn?" said Sesshoumaru, wordlessly asking Miroku to go on.

"I was thinking," continued Miroku, "shouldn't we be training?"

Sesshoumaru was silent for a couple minutes, sipping his tea in the process. Miroku began to get increasingly nervous when his sensei still didn't answer.

"I thought that we could take today off. Chichi-ue is most likely doing the same," said Sesshoumaru finally.

"Oh!" said Miroku, blinking in understanding.

"That is, unless you _want_ me to beat you black and blue today," finished Sesshoumaru, looking at Miroku out of the corner of his eye.

Miroku broke out in a cold sweat.

"Iie! You're right! We should take today off!" he spluttered, waving a hand at Sesshoumaru before taking a huge gulp of his tea to emphasize his point.

Sesshoumaru watched his student yelp as he burned his tongue and throat, and he turned away, smiling slightly.

-o-o-o-

Shikamaru sat in Uzumaki Naruto's hospital room, playing shogi by himself. Nearby, an hourglass full of green sand trickled away. It was quiet in the hospital today, and Shikamaru was grateful for it, since he needed to concentrate. The 'tap' of him putting down piece after piece was the only noise, save the sound of the trickling sand and an annoying bird calling outside.

Glancing at Naruto, he said, "This guy sleeps a lot. Maybe he's dead."

Naruto continued to sleep on peacefully. Shikamaru turned back to his game of shogi and sighed. The hourglass trickled on.

-o-o-o-

In one of the less occupied streets of Konoha, three children and one neko were standing together and talking. The child with red hair was speaking to the other two, one of whom was in his peer group and the other who was slightly older. The neko, with cream-colored fur and black stripes, couldn't actually talk, but she listened to the children anyway.

"Let's play Ninja!" declared Shippou to his companions.

Rin's face immediately lit up with a toothy grin, though she had recently lost two in the front. Kohaku looked unsure, since he was at least five years older than both of the youngsters and had more skill in nindou than they.

"Yatta!" exclaimed Rin, hopping up and down while clapping her hands.

"Rin-chan! If we're going to play Ninja, you can't make so much noise!" scolded Shippou, putting his hands on his hips and leaning the upper half of his body forward slightly.

Rin giggled but quieted down. Shippou looked at Kohaku with a steely gaze, like a commander inspecting one of his troops.

"Are you going to play, Kohaku-san?" asked Shippou.

Kohaku started and mumbled, "Ano… Un, I'll play…"

"Yoshi! You're It! You have to cover your eyes and count to a hundred! Then you'll have to come find us and then tag one of us to make us It! This street and the ones on either side of it are as far as we can go!" explained Shippou.

Kohaku sighed; he had expected the children to pick him as the starter victim from the beginning. Ah, well. Might as well play along, _literally_.

"Cover your eyes, Kohaku-san!" chided Rin.

"Un…" said Kohaku dejectedly.

He turned to face the wall of the street and leaned his folded arms up against it, whereupon he placed his eyes against them.

"Ichi…" he began, and heard the 'whoosh!' of Shippou leaping away while Rin giggled and ran off.

A mew sounded near his feet, and Kohaku used the moment to glance down at Kirara (7), who had accompanied them for the day, as a sort of babysitter.

"Are you going to play, too?" asked Kohaku.

Kirara simply mewed and quickly ran off. Kohaku took that as a 'yes' and turned back to the wall.

"Ni…" he continued, and mentally groaned.

If he were playing Ninja with Kagome, he would gladly leap at the opportunity to interact with her. But every time he saw her, his face grew hot and he stuttered while looking at his feet. It made him feel better when she just laughed it off and invited him to accompany her or just talk to her. But he still felt awkward in her presence. It didn't help that he wasn't even a Genin yet, and Kagome, while still a Genin, was practically at Jounin level.

"San…" said Kohaku, and sighed.

'_Kagome-sama, if you were here right now, it would make this game a _lot_ easier. I'll be It until this game ends, I just know it…_' he thought, and mentally groaned again.

"Yon…"

-o-o-o-

At the Yamanaka flower shop, Sakura was getting another daffodil.

"Sasuke-kun hasn't come back yet," came Ino's voice from behind her, effectively startling her.

Looking behind her, Sakura saw Ino smirking at her, her chin in her hand.

Standing up, Sakura said, "Ino–"

Ino stopped her and wagged her finger back and forth, saying, "Tch, tch, tch. I get information about Sasuke-kun faster than you. You failed to get ahead of me, forehead girl."

"That's not it," protested Sakura, looking at the daffodil, "This is for Lee-san."

Ino gasped in realization.

Sakura's expression saddened further and she said, "The last one is about to wither."

It was silent in the shop for moment.

Then Ino straightened and she said, "Sou ka…"

Sakura walked over to the counter, and Ino wrapped the daffodil in pink paper in order to beautify it and protect it from the elements. Sakura handed her money for the flower over to her rival.

"Here," said Ino, handing Sakura the newly wrapped daffodil.

"Arigatou," said Sakura, smiling at Ino.

Smiling, Ino nodded and said, "I hope Lee-san has gotten better."

"Un," said Sakura.

-o-o-o-

At the Konoha Hospital, a sinister presence was making its way through the entrance. Slow footsteps made their way inside, along with heavy, strained breathing. Once the presence got past the reception area, which was deserted, it stopped.

Gaara clutched his head, trying to get 'Kaa-san' to calm down. The Bijuu insisted that he go and see the boy that he had fought against in the preliminaries, and eliminate him. 'Kaa-san' was already irritated with the fact that _she_ still hadn't shown up yet.

-o-o-o-

Shikamaru glanced at the hourglass, realizing something was wrong.

"Huh? What's this? Damn, it's stuck. How troublesome," he said, seeing that the green sand was no longer flowing.

Groaning, Naruto slowly opened his eyes. As the room came into focus, his groggy mind tried to comprehend what he was seeing. Looking to his left, he saw Shikamaru of all people sitting nearby with a shogi set.

"Yo," greeted a smiling Shikamaru, "Finally awake?"

"Where am I?" asked Naruto, looking around.

"The hospital," answered Shikamaru, "I heard you were asleep for three days straight."

"Three days…" repeated a dazed Naruto.

Suddenly, his eyes bugged out in realization and he yelled, "THREE DAYS?"

Gasping, he stood up on the bed.

Bewildered, Shikamaru said, "W-what?"

"Shikamaru, when are the final matches?" demanded Naruto.

"A-ashita (t-tomorrow)…" answered Shikamaru, thoroughly freaked out.

"NANI?" screeched Naruto, and he grabbed Shikamaru by the shirt, yelling, "Why didn't you wake me up earlier? I don't have time to just sleep here! Where's the Ero Sennin? Where is he? I need him to supervise my training!"

"Huh? What are you talking about? I have no clue what you're talking about!" said Shikamaru, angry from being sprayed with spittle and being yelled at.

Naruto abruptly let go of Shikamaru, going back over to the pillow on his bed. Shikamaru watched him, clueless.

"My clothes are gone!" said Naruto, looking under his pillow, "Where? Where? Where?"

A tick mark appeared on Shikamaru's head and he gripped it from the oncoming headache.

"Taku," he complained, "he's sleeping one minute, and causing a ruckus the next."

He raised his voice and said, "Calm down a little!"

Naruto froze, his butt sticking out since he was in a squat on the bed.

"There's no point in panicking the day before. Resting can be considered part of your training–"

Naruto suddenly plopped down on the bed, making Shikamaru worry.

"Oi, Naruto," said Shikamaru with a confused face, "What's wrong?"

Naruto's stomach growled and he turned toward Shikamaru. There were rivers of tears coming from his eyes.

"I'm hungry…" said the blonde.

Shikamaru relaxed and said, "Oi, oi. Don't scare me like that."

His eyes widened with realization, and he leaned down, saying, "Oh, yeah."

Naruto's eyes widened as Shikamaru placed a fruits basket on the bedspread. There was a pineapple, a bunch of grapes, apples, pears, and a bunch of bananas.

"This is troublesome, but I bought these fruits for Chouji," explained Shikamaru, "The doctor said he can't eat them, so let's eat them together."

"Chouji? He's hurt that badly?" asked Naruto, sounding concerned.

Laughing, Shikamaru said, "Don't get the wrong idea. He ate too much barbeque, and his stomach isn't feeling well."

Naruto burst out laughing, holding his stomach and kicking his legs out.

"That sounds like Chouji, all right!" he gasped.

"Girls don't come to visit guys like you," stated Shikamaru bluntly, "Here."

He tossed an apple to Naruto, who caught it.

Rubbing it against his shirt, Naruto said, "This looks good."

He brought it up to his mouth to take a bite out of it, and then let out a yell of realization.

"What?" asked Shikamaru, giving him a weird look.

Laughing mischievously, Naruto said, "Let's eat these in front of Chouji."

Shikamaru sighed and said, "What a troublesome guy."

-o-o-o-

Kagome neatly folded her newly washed clothes back into her bag. As she came to her last article of clothing, a shirt, she put it up to her face and inhaled. It smelled fresh and clean.

"Ahhh. There's nothing like clean clothes," she said to herself.

Folding the shirt into her bag, she zipped the bag up and shouldered it. Then she made sure that she had closed the doors to the washing machine and dryer that she had used. Looking around the cozy little establishment that was the laundromat, Kagome adjusted her bag into a more comfortable position and walked toward the entrance. She nodded to the owner that stood behind the counter (she had already paid), and pushed opened the door, the bells above it chiming. The owner of the establishment peered curiously after her as the door shut.

Looking around the street, Kagome thought, '_What to do now? I wonder if Naruto-kun is finished training yet…_'

Suddenly, a woman's screech broke her out of her thoughts.

"Ecchi (pervert)!"

Several people, including Kagome, looked curiously further down the street from where the shout had come from. There was the sound of a slap, and of someone falling over.

Wanting to see what was going on, Kagome maneuvered her way forward through the people in the street. She squeezed between several people, who began to disperse once their curiosity was satisfied. Looking down on the ground, Kagome faltered and raised an eyebrow.

'_Why am I not surprised?_' she thought, as she looked down at the unconscious Jiraiya.

She stared at the unconscious Sennin with a mixture of amusement and disbelief. The red handprint on the side of his face made her want to laugh.

Squatting down next to him, she flicked him on the forehead and said, "Oi. Ero Sennin."

No answer. Furrowing her brow, Kagome flicked him on the forehead and called to him again. Since she didn't know his real name, she had to make do with 'Ero Sennin'. When Jiraiya still didn't wake up, and his face began to take on a perverted expression, Kagome began to get thoroughly ticked off.

'_The teme… He must be dreaming about naked women…_' she thought, an eyebrow twitching.

Leaning down close to his ear, Kagome took a deep breath and yelled, "OI! ERO SENNIN!"

The unconscious ninja's reaction was comical, though Kagome had to jump out of the way to avoid getting hit. Jiraiya gave out a yell and flailed his arms. His eyes flew open and looked around wildly. When they caught Kagome standing near him, he visibly relaxed.

"Oh, it's you. I thought for a second that that Naruto kid was yelling at me," he said.

Kagome raised an eyebrow and said, "Speaking of Naruto-kun, where is he? Shouldn't he be training with you?"

Jiraiya's demeanor immediately became nervous, and Kagome became suspicious at once.

"Hai… Well, you see…" began Jiraiya.

"Hai?" asked Kagome, prompting him to go on.

"You see, the bouzou got himself landed in the hospital," finished Jiraiya, smiling nervously.

Kagome's eyes nearly bugged out as she began yelling at Jiraiya.

"NANI? WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO TO HIM, ERO SENNIN?" she roared, pointing an accusatory finger at the older man.

"Don't call me that!" hissed Jiraiya angrily.

Deciding to further antagonize the Sennin in revenge, Kagome turned towards the street, cupped her hands around her mouth, and yelled, "OI, MINNA-SAN! THIS DIRTY-ROTTED SCOUNDREL HERE IS CALLED ERO SENN–"

Jiraiya grabbed her and clapped his hand over her mouth, which practically covered the entire bottom half of her face.

"Shhh! Baka shoujo (girl)!" hushed Jiraiya anxiously, while people in the street looked in their general direction.

Kagome began to struggle under his grip, making protesting noises. Finally, she grabbed his hand around the wrist and held it in a vicious grip. Jiraiya yelped at the unexpected pain and removed his hand from her mouth.

Gasping for air, Kagome said, "Don't you dare touch me with your hand! Kami knows where it's been!"

She looked meaningfully down past his waist, with more than a little disgust. Jiraiya actually blushed.

"Girls as young as you shouldn't know things like that!" he spluttered.

Clearing his throat, Jiraiya stood up to his full height. Kagome stepped back from him, wiping at her mouth with the back of her hand.

"Listen, don't call me Ero Sennin!" chided Jiraiya, looking around to see if anyone was listening.

"Well, what else am I supposed to call you! I doubt that Naruto-kun knows your real name, either!" complained Kagome.

"Jiraiya," said the Sennin.

"Eh?" said Kagome.

"My name. It's Jiraiya," said Jiraiya with annoyance.

"Oh."

"Now, what was your name again?" asked Jiraiya.

"I never told you," stated Kagome dryly, "Higurashi Kagome desu."

Jiraiya gave a grunt of surprise and inspected Kagome closely. Like most of the people in Konoha, he had heard the rumor of there being a foreign kunoichi with the ability to use the Sharingan. He had heard the description of the appearance of the kunoichi, and this girl seemed to match it.

Getting uncomfortable under Jiraiya's stare, Kagome frowned and said, "What? Do I have something unpleasant on my face? Perhaps a wart, like you?"

Ignoring the insult, Jiraiya scrutinized her face. Yes, it definitely had the look of the Uchiha clan. The high cheekbones, and the shape of the eyes was similar, as well as her delicate, albeit slightly tanned, complexion.

"You…" he said, "can use the Sharingan, can you not?"

Kagome sighed, her arms falling limply to her sides. Man, was she getting sick and tired of this question!

"Taku!" she burst out angrily, "You people don't give up do you! 'Can you use the Sharingan?' 'I don't know, maybe. What's it to you?' 'Gee, maybe I'm just a person that can't mind my own business. How about you?' 'Well, I'm just peachy! I'm just sick and tired of people asking me about the Sharingan!' 'Oh, are you? Dear me, I'm so sorry…'"

Jiraiya watched Kagome rant on and on, first with surprise and then with growing amusement. Once her ongoing argument with herself escalated to hilarity, he burst out into hearty laughter.

Kagome stopped ranting and looked at him.

"What are you laughing at?" she asked angrily.

Jiraiya continued to laugh, holding his stomach as it began to hurt.

"Oi! I'm talking to you!" protested Kagome, and Jiraiya still persisted with his laughter.

Kagome responded by punching him the jaw. Her right fist made an uppercut, hitting the bottom of his jaw and making him fall backwards onto his butt. That effectively shut him up.

"Itai!" whined the Sennin, rubbing the spot that Kagome had punched him, which had already begun to swell, "You sure do pack a punch!"

Putting her hands on her hips and leaning down towards him, Kagome said, "For your information, _mister_, I _do_ have the Sharingan! And I am really _sick_ of people asking me if I have it!"

Once she had finished, Kagome took a deep breath.

"Hora, you said that Naruto-kun is in the hospital?" she asked.

"Hai," answered Jiraiya, still rubbing his face.

"Doushite?"

"He used up all of his energy and chakra, and passed out. But he did succeed in his training. Actually, he more than succeeded. He exceeded all of my expectations of him," stated Jiraiya.

Reassured, Kagome smiled.

"Sou ka…" she said, her eyes distant.

She blinked, snapping out of her reverie.

"Maa," Kagome said, hefting her backpack higher up onto her shoulder, "I guess I'll be going then."

She turned to go, when Jiraiya asked, "Where?"

Kagome looked back at him and said, "To see Naruto-kun, of course."

She turned to go once more, paused, and turned to look back at him again.

Smiling sweetly, Kagome said, "Oh, yeah. Wari na (sorry), for punching you, _Ero Sennin_."

Jiraiya shivered; the predatory gleam in her eye that appeared for a moment said otherwise. She probably enjoyed punching him. He waited to get up until the girl was out of sight.

"What a scary girl," he said, shakily getting to his feet.

Rubbing his jaw again, he said, "She hits nearly as hard as Tsunade-hime. And that smile…" he shuddered, and decided not to finish his sentence.

-o-o-o-

Sango was getting impatient. Currently, she was standing outside the men's onsen, waiting for her teammates to come back out and report to her the Tsukikage's answer to her question. She had requested her teammates to go in and ask the Tsukikage if he could speak to her immediately after getting out of the onsen. She had also requested that he put clothes on first, since the Tsukikage was rather eccentric about things, and Sango didn't especially want to see the leader of her nation naked.

A tick mark appeared on Sango's forehead, and she began tapping her foot with irritation. Sighing heavily, she finally exploded.

"What the hell is taking them so long? All they had to do was _deliver_ a message! Mataku!" she grouched loudly.

"Now, now, Sango-chan," chided a voice from the doorway of the men's onsen, "That isn't language that a young heiress should be using."

Sango turned to see the Tsukikage walk out of the onsen door, followed by InuYasha, Renkotsu, Jakotsu, and, surprisingly, Shuuran.

"What took you so long?" demanded Sango to Renkotsu.

"We had to pay to get into the onsen, so we figured we would take a soak while we were in there," explained Renkotsu.

"And left me out here! You could have at least come back out to report the situation!" growled Sango.

"It must have slipped my mind," said Renkotsu, though he grinned mischievously.

'_I'm gonna kill him,_' thought Sango, struggling to control her temper.

"Ne, Sango-chan? Why on earth did you ask that I put on clothes first? Of course I would have put on my clothes after soaking in the onsen," said Touga.

Before Sango could answer, InuYasha said, "If Miroku had been in there, she wouldn't have asked you to dress at all."

Sango turned red and said, "What are you insinuating, InuYasha?"

InuYasha grinned nastily and said, "Oh, come off it! If Miroku had been in there with us, you probably would have asked Renkotsu to ask Miroku to leave his clothes _off_ when he came back out!"

Sango turned tomato-red and said, gritting her teeth and cracking her knuckles, "I…am…going…to KICK YOUR ASS!"

"Ah ha ha! Look how red her face is!" crowed InuYasha, who soon became an unconscious heap on the ground with a steaming goose egg on his head, courtesy of Sango's fury-powered fist.

While Renkotsu, Jakotsu, and Shuuran stared at InuYasha's conscious body, Touga cleared his throat.

"Erm, Sango-chan? Is there something that you wish to speak to me about?" he inquired.

Sango's face cleared and she said, "Oh, right. It's about Kagome-chan–"

"What about Kagome-chan?" came Touran's voice from behind Sango.

At that moment, Sango felt like tearing out clumps of her hair and jumping up and down on them angrily. How many more interruptions and delays was she going to encounter?

"Ah, Touran-san!" called Touga, calling to his approaching bodyguard.

"Tsukikage-sama!" snapped Sango, a bit too curt.

"Oh, yes. What was it that you were going to say?"

Sango checked to make sure that the boys were preoccupied. To her utter delight, their attention was occupied on trying to wake InuYasha up. Jakotsu was slapping the temperamental, unconscious boy on the cheek lightly. Renkotsu was kicking InuYasha in the ribs, and Shuuran was suggesting ways that they could use to wake him up, all of them violent. Satisfied, Sango turned back to Touga.

"I talked to Kagome-chan today. It seems that she has finished training for the Chuunin exam," began Sango.

Touga nodded and said, "Go on."

"She's grown _three_ inches since I last saw her! I also noticed that she might need more clothes, more, ah, _feminine_ clothes. She's thirteen! She can't go running around in clothes that make her look like an errant tomboy!" protested Sango.

Touga rubbed his chin thoughtfully and said, "Yes, you may be right."

'_Of course I'm right,_' thought Sango, sweatdropping.

"Yes, I see your point. Very well. We'll go shopping for new clothes for Kagome. You pick them out, I'll pay for them," said Touga.

Sango considered her leader lucky that the younger boys behind him were distracted. If they heard that he was going shopping for clothes…

"I'll come along, as well," said Touran, who had drawn level with Sango.

Sango looked questioningly at the older woman, who had always seemed uninterested in fashion.

Seeing Sango's look, Touran smirked and said, "I'm just going to make sure that you won't pick anything _too_ girly. If you come back with something with frills and the like, I fear that Kagome-chan will act irrationally."

Touga glanced behind him at the boys and said, "You three try and get my son conscious again. I'm going to accompany these fine ladies somewhere where you will be terribly bored."

'_Except maybe Jakotsu,_' mused Sango with amusement.

"Go do whatever you want," continued Touga, "and make sure that InuYasha doesn't get himself beat up. Otherwise, I'll have to beat him up again to teach him a lesson."

'_He sure isn't getting the Father of the Year Reward…_' thought Renkotsu.

-o-o-o-

Shikamaru and Naruto were currently standing in Lee's room, glaring down Gaara. The redheaded Suna nin was paralyzed from Shikamaru's Kagemane no Jutsu (Shadow Possession Technique).

Shikamaru and Naruto had been on their way to play their prank on Chouji, when they had passed Lee's room. There, they had seen Gaara standing over the unconscious Taijutsu-user, sand preparing to suffocate him.

"You grew up in a bad environment, didn't you?" asked Shikamaru, after Gaara proclaimed that he wanted to kill Lee, "You're really egocentric."

'_Actually,_' he thought, '_this guy is weird. I'm getting the chills. If he does something, Naruto and I can't handle him. Taku, what should I do…?_'

"If you bother me, I will kill you, too," said Gaara monotonously.

"What?" cried Naruto, "Just try it, then!"

For emphasis, he punched out with one arm and put his other hand on it.

"Oi, cut it out, Naruto!" said Shikamaru.

-o-o-o-

Kagome entered the hospital, looking around for someone. Remembering her last visit to the hospital, Kagome considered herself lucky that no one was present.

Walking up to the reception desk, she saw that there was a little sign that said 'Eating'.

'_Out to lunch, eh? Well, you won't mind if I come and have a little visit, now will you?_' thought Kagome smirking.

She signed her name of the sheet to show that she had come to visit Uzumaki Naruto. Next to her name, she drew a little smiley-face that had crossed eyes and was blowing a raspberry. Chuckling, Kagome straightened up. That was when she sensed the malignant presence.

'_Nani…? Who is–_' she thought, and her eyes widened with realization.

She looked up towards the ceiling, pinpointing the aura a floor above her. Her pupils shrank when she sensed the other auras present with the disturbing one.

"Sou na!" she cried, "Naruto!"

She took off at a dead run into the depths of the hospital, failing to sense that she was being watched.

-o-o-o-

Naruto extravagantly pointed at Gaara and declared, "You can't kill me!"

"I've been telling you to stop doing that!" hissed Shikamaru, "He's strong as a monster! You know that, right?"

Smirking, Naruto put down his arm and said, "I have a real monster inside of me. I won't lose to him."

But his smile didn't last long, and gave way to a glare.

Shikamaru elbowed Naruto and hissed, "Don't piss him off, you idiot!"

Naruto continued to glare at Gaara, ignoring Shikamaru.

Closing his eyes, Gaara said, "A monster, ka? Then I am the same."

Shikamaru gasped softly.

Looking up Gaara said, "As you said, I did not grow up in a nice environment. I took the life of a woman who was called my mother when I was born. To become the ultimate shinobi, my father used a Ninjutsu to bind an incarnate of suna in me. I was a monster at birth."

Naruto and Shikamaru flinched with horror, eyes widening.

'_An incarnate of suna?_' wondered Shikamaru.

"It is called Shukaku," continued Gaara, "and it was sealed in a teakettle. It is the living soul of an elder priest from Sunagakure."

Taking a deep breath and trying to regain his composure, Shikamaru said, "Must be one of the shouin no jutsu (binding techniques) to bind a soul before birth. To think that you guys would resort to such a thing… You guys are crazy."

Naruto switched his gaze from Shikamaru back to Gaara.

'_He has…_' he thought with disbelief, '_something inside of him, too?_'

Shikamaru gave a humorless laugh and said, "That's not what a parent should do. What a twisted way to show love."

"Love?" said Gaara, "Don't measure me by your values. Family? Let me tell you what kind of link I have with them. They are just lumps of meat linked by hatred and murderous intent."

Naruto and Shikamaru gasped yet again.

"I stole my mother's life and was created to become the village's masterpiece," continued Gaara, "And as Kazekage's son, my father taught me the secrets of Ninjutsu. I grew up after being overprotected, spoiled, and left alone. I thought that was love… Until that incident happened."

"That incident?" asked Shikamaru, disliking Gaara even more now.

Gaara was silent.

"What happened?" asked Naruto.

Gaara continued to be silent.

"So what happened?" demanded Naruto.

Smirking with bloodshot eyes, his expression that of a maniac's, Gaara stated, "These past six years, starting from when I was six, my father tried to assassinate me numerous times."

Naruto and Shikamaru, predictably, flinched.

"But you said that he spoiled you," Shikamaru pointed out, "So what do you mean?"

Gaara's expression softened and he said, "A being that is too strong eventually becomes an embodiment of fear. Since I was born from the usage of a jutsu, my mind was unstable. The idiots in my village finally noticed that my emotions were unpredictable. To Kazekage, my father, I was the village's trump card, but at the same time, I was a threat.

"After I turned six, it seems that they classified me as a dangerous being. I was the village's dangerous tool, but still handled with care. I am only a relic of the past they want to get rid of. So why do I exist and live? I asked myself that question, but I could not find an answer. But I need those reasons while I am still alive. Or it would be the same as me being dead."

"What is he talking about?" wondered Shikamaru out loud.

Naruto, however, was a different case.

His expression full of realization and horror, Naruto thought, '_I…understand… He's the same as me…_'

"And this is what I concluded," continued Gaara, "I exist to kill everyone other than me. I finally found relief inside the fear of being assassinated at any time. By killing the assassins, I was able to recognize my reason to live. I live only for myself, and only love myself (8). As long as I think that other people exist to make me feel that, the world is wonderful. As long as there are people to kill in this world, to make me experience the joy of living, my existence will remain."

Flinching for the umpteenth time, Shikamaru thought, '_What's with him? He's really out of it._'

'_I was alone, too,_' thought Naruto, '_I didn't know the reason to my existence and suffered, but Iruka-sensei acknowledged my existence, so I was finally able to feel like I was alive. But he… He has been alone, and felt alive by killing others? Such a guy exists…?_'

Staring in Gaara's eyes, Naruto received a jolt from the murderous, yet monotone gaze.

'_The worlds we live in are completely different!_' Naruto realized, '_There's no way I can beat a guy like him…_'

Naruto took a step back, causing Shikamaru to look at him.

"What's wrong, Naruto?" asked Shikamaru.

Gaara took that moment to make his sand get ready for attack. It floated around him, sounding like a hundred hourglasses.

'_Nani?_' thought Shikamaru, '_I should have immobilized him with the Kagemane no Jutsu!_'

Naruto gasped, shuddering. His electric-blue eyes were wide.

"Naruto!" yelled Shikamaru, noticing Naruto's expression, "Naruto! Oi, wake up! What a troublesome guy!"

The sand poised to attack.

"Naruto!" yelled Shikamaru, trying to snap the blonde out of his reverie.

"Let me feel…!" breathed Gaara.

The sand dove for Naruto and Shikamaru.

"This is it for us…!" said Shikamaru.

Suddenly, there was the sound of running footsteps. Someone came hurtling to the room, grabbing the doorframe to stop themselves. Shikamaru grunted in surprise when he saw familiar, fearful blue eyes.

"Naruto!" cried Kagome, her expression panic-stricken; she looked as if she feared for Naruto's very life.

The sand simply dropped. All of it fell with a 'shhh' to the floor, and lay harmless. Gaara stared at the girl, his expression unreadable.

Panting, Kagome asked, "Naruto! Daijoubu?"

"Kagome-chan!" cried Naruto, shocked out of his reverie by her sudden appearance.

The blue-eyed girl made to go to him, but Shikamaru and Naruto both gave exclamations that made her stop.

"Iie! Stay where you are!" ordered Shikamaru.

"Don't come in, Kagome-chan!" added Naruto.

Kagome took in Naruto's appearance. He looked like he had just jumped out of bed. This was the first time she had seen him without his bright jumpsuit on, or his hitai-ite, for that matter. She also noticed that his skin was ashen and that he was covered in a cold sweat. Both he and Shikamaru appeared to be trembling.

Her gaze snapping sharply over to the emotionless Gaara, she let out a very realistic snarl. Shikamaru and Naruto both jumped at it.

'_She sounded just like an inu!_' thought Shikamaru.

"Did he hurt you, Naruto-kun?" asked Kagome, her teeth bared like an angry dog's.

She had her head slightly lowered so that the glare that she was sending Gaara was magnified tenfold. Her hand gripped the doorframe tightly, enough to where the wood creaked.

"Iie, he didn't," answered Naruto shakily.

"But he was going to," said Kagome, her voice deadly quiet, "I saw it."

Shikamaru looked back and forth between Kagome and Gaara. The redhead's expression was still unreadable, but that wasn't what Shikamaru was wondering about.

'_He just stopped what he was doing when she appeared! If she were a Jounin, I would understand, but she's the same rank as us! He should have just gone for her, too! There's something wrong, here…_' Shikamaru thought.

"K-kagome-chan! I'm not hurt! You don't need to get so angry!" protested Naruto, slightly afraid at his friend's sudden antagonistic behavior.

"No, I don't," agreed Kagome, her body sagging slightly against the doorframe.

'_It's these damn hormones that are still present in my body from my heat cycle,_' she thought.

Her gaze met Gaara's again and she thought, '_I just hope that _he_ hasn't noticed yet. I doubt Naruto-kun will._'

She noticed that he was staring at one side of her face. With a sinking realization, she remembered that Gaara had ordered her – the nerve! – to leave her scar on her face bare. And she hadn't done it, just to spite him and show that she wasn't about to submit to his whims. Looking into his murderous gaze, she had a strong suspicion that she should have just gone along with what he had told her to do.

'_What the hell am I thinking?_' she thought, mentally shaking herself, '_I am _not_ about to bow to the wishes of someone that acts like a tyrant!_'

Putting on her best fake, cute smile, Kagome cocked her head at Gaara.

"Is there some business that you had to finish here, Gaara-san?" she asked in a voice as sweet as honey; Gaara visibly narrowed his eyes at her.

"In fact," continued Kagome, looking around at the other two, "if we have _all_ finished our business here, we should probably leave. It wouldn't do for us to wake Lee-san up, especially when he is in need of his rest."

There was silence. Naruto and Shikamaru watched Gaara with bated breath, waiting to see his next move. Shikamaru half-expected the redhead to attack Kagome simply out of a bad temper. Kagome had to keep herself from gulping when the dark aura, which had receded at her arrival, made its appearance once more.

There came the sound of rustling sand. Naruto and Gaara gave grunts of surprise and jumped backwards as if to avoid another onslaught. But their concern was unneeded. The sand was making its long trek back into Gaara's gourd, trickling in little golden streams on the ground. Kagome prevented herself from wrinkling her nose at the smell of blood mixed in with it.

Finally, when all of the sand had trickled back into the gourd, including the rivulets on Lee's body and bedspread, everyone relaxed minutely. Gaara placed the cork back into the opening of the large container.

"It seems I will have to return another time," he said, closing his teal-green eyes.

Suddenly, he winced and grabbed his head, doubling over slightly. He drew a sharp intake of breath through his gritted teeth. Slowly, he began shuffling his way towards the entrance to the room.

Gaara suddenly stopped and turned to Shikamaru and Naruto and said, "I'm still going to kill you."

Then he continued towards the door. All was quiet as he made it to the doorway, everyone tense and expectant. Kagome boldly met Gaara's eyes as he went by. She refused to flinch when his eyes promised her pain. She merely stared stubbornly right back at him.

Gaara entered the hallway and turned to the left. Kagome watched him shuffle down the long corridor, and turn the corner. Surprisingly, he went around something at the edge of the corner. Was there someone standing there? Kagome narrowed her eyes with confusion.

Once Gaara's echoing footsteps had faded, Kagome breathed a sigh of relief.

"He's gone," she said.

Shikamaru and Naruto instantly relaxed. Shikamaru even plopped down on the floor, and rubbed his forehead with the palms of both of his hands. Shaking, Naruto joined him on the ground. Kagome stepped into the room, and made her way over to Lee's bedside.

Looking down at the unconscious nin, she saw that he was unharmed. Judging from the sand that she had seen on his bedspread, Gaara had been about to kill him. Shikamaru and Naruto had probably been passing by, saw what was going on, and confronted the redhead. Not the smartest of moves, but it had saved Lee's life.

A realization crashed down on Kagome. Trembling, she grabbed the back of a nearby chair used for visitors and sank down into it. She hunched over in it, putting her elbows on her knees and put her forehead in her hands. Her fingers went through her dark hair nervously.

"I have to admit, you sure have guts to go up to that guy like that," said Shikamaru, smiling somewhat shakily.

"Kagome-chan? Is there something wrong?" asked Naruto.

He got up from the floor and went over to peer down into her face. His face scrunched in puzzlement when he saw her expression. Kagome looked like she had just seen her own death, her face as white as sheet.

Kagome didn't answer. Her breathing had become shallow, and her pupils dilated.

'_He'll be waiting for me, because he won't let my disobedience towards him go unpunished. He's going to force me to keep my hair away from my face… I acted like such a fool, standing up to him like that when I knew he was in such a dangerous mood. Sesshoumaru-nii warned me about keeping my emotions in check… I'll be lucky to get away with minor scrapes,_' she thought with rising panic.

"KAGOME-CHAN!" Naruto yelled into her ear, causing Kagome to topple out of the chair.

"Gah!" yelled Kagome, her arms wind-milling in the air as she tried to keep herself from falling.

Landing hard on her tailbone, she looked up accusingly at the one that had made her fall in the first place.

"What did you do that for?" Kagome demanded, glaring up at Naruto and rubbing her sore bottom.

Naruto grinned mischievously at Kagome's expression.

"Hee hee hee! Your face was so funny when you fell!" he laughed, rubbing under his nose with his index finger.

"Very funny," Kagome growled, pushing herself back up by using the chair as a support.

Naruto's smiled faded somewhat, and he protested by saying, "Demo… You were making such scary faces, Kagome-chan!"

"Scary faces, ne?" said Kagome, smirking.

Then she proceeded to pull down her bottom eyelids with her index fingers and jut out her bottom jaw so that her teeth showed.

"Is this scary?" she asked.

Naruto burst out laughing, holding his stomach. Encouraged, Kagome made another equally outrageous face, making Naruto laugh even harder.

"Iie! This one is scarier, Kagome-chan!" boasted Naruto, who proceeded into making a face at Kagome.

"I'm surrounded by idiots," muttered Shikamaru, slapping himself on the forehead as Kagome and Naruto competed to make the scariest face.

Suddenly, a deep voice from the doorway interrupted their antics.

"Although I normally do not disapprove of such youthfulness, my student _does_ need his rest."

Everyone present (except Lee, of course) looked up with grunts of surprise. In the doorway stood Maito Gai in all his green spandex glory, his arms crossed and one of his caterpillar-like eyebrows arched questioningly. Shikamaru stood while Naruto and Kagome straightened.

"Gomen nasai, Gai-san. It was not our intention to come in here and goof off," said Kagome, bowing.

Naruto snorted, covering up the laugh he had for her choice of words.

Gai raised that eyebrow higher and said, "Sou. I believe that you were talking someone out of harming my student, if I heard correctly."

"So you were the one around the corner," Kagome muttered, sweatdropping.

Gai said nothing. He had been on his way to visit Lee in the hospital, when this girl had shown up in the reception area. He had watched and waited as she signed in, and then watched her curious actions of looking at the ceiling, crying out the name of one of his rival's students, and then running off into the hospital. He had followed her at a safe distance. Then Gai had simply listened to what was going on in his student's room, in case his assistance was required. The girl had pulled things off quite nicely.

Naruto was looking at Kagome. Something was different about her since the last time he had seen her. Quite suddenly, it hit him.

"AH-!" he began, his eyes bugging out as he pointed at his friend.

Kagome immediately reacted by whirling around towards him and covering his mouth. She put one finger up to her mouth in a quieting gesture.

"Shh! Didn't Gai-san just ask us to be quiet, Naruto-kun?" she hissed angrily.

Naruto's muffled reply was lost under her hand. His blue eyes were still bugging out.

"What did you say?" asked Kagome, taking her hand off of the blonde's mouth.

"You're taller than me!" Naruto shrieked, making Kagome wish that she had waited to get out of the room before uncovering his mouth.

"Naruto!" she hissed again, casting a meaningful glance over at Lee on the hospital bed.

"Demo! Demo! You were shorter than me the last time I saw you! Now I'm shorter than you! How'd you do it? Huh? Huh?" pleaded Naruto, who was the shortest boy in his age group.

"He doesn't know how to shut up, does he?" commented Shikamaru, who was developing a headache from Naruto's voice.

"I ate lots of fish, Naruto-kun. And lots of ramen from Ichiraku's. Does that answer your question?" asked Kagome, hoping Naruto would accept her answer and stay quiet.

"Ramen! But I eat ramen from Ichiraku's all the time!" complained Naruto loudly.

At this, Kagome thumped him soundly on the head with her fist, surprising Naruto in the process.

"You…hit me!" said Naruto, blinking.

"And I will again unless you lower your voice! Now will you be quiet?" asked Kagome.

Naruto opened his mouth to say something, and Kagome raised an eyebrow at him. The blonde wisely closed his mouth again.

"Yoshi. Now, we should leave Lee-san to his rest," said Kagome, grabbing Naruto by the upper arm and leading him towards the door.

"Sumimasen," she muttered, passing Gai.

Once in the hall, she released Naruto.

He rubbed his arm and said, "Itee (another slang word, for 'ouch') (9), you didn't have to hold my arm so tight!"

"Wari na, Naruto-kun," said Kagome, rubbing the back of her neck.

"Ne, Kagome-chan? Are you wearing some kind of perfume? Or is it some kind of shampoo?" asked Naruto.

Kagome froze; damn, he had noticed.

"Iie, I'm not, Naruto-kun. Are you sure it's coming from me?" asked Kagome, concealing her nervousness.

"Ah, I dunno," said Naruto, crossing his arms and cocking his head, "But it smells really good!"

"Okay, I'll take your word for it," said Kagome, and changed the topic, "I have to get going now, Naruto-kun. It was nice seeing you."

"Un! You too, Kagome-chan!" said Naruto happily

Kagome smiled at his enthusiasm.

"Ja ne, Naruto-kun!" she said, and mussed up his hair, causing the blonde to growl in annoyance.

That made her grin like a Cheshire cat. She turned to Gai and Shikamaru.

"Ja ne, Gai-san, Shikamaru-san," she said, bowing.

Then she turned and went down the hall. Still walking, she turned around.

"Good luck tomorrow, Naruto-kun, Shikamaru-san!" she called loud enough so that Shikamaru could hear her.

"Un! You too, Kagome-chan!" Naruto called, waving at her.

"Arigatou!" she called back, and turned around.

Once she was around the corner, Naruto dropped his hand and deflated somewhat.

"You boys would do well to rest today, not picking fights with foreign shinobi," stated Gai.

Shikamaru and Naruto grunted in surprise, though Shikamaru's didn't last long.

'_This guy's a Jounin; I wouldn't be surprised if he had used a concealment jutsu and hid in the hall the whole time,_' mused Shikamaru.

Shikamaru sighed and stuffed his hands into his pockets.

"This day has been so troublesome," he muttered, and went to the door.

He grunted in surprise when he saw that the doorframe had new additions to it. Four holes, like nails had been hammered there and taken out, were dug into the doorframe. Stepping out of the room, he saw another hole dug into the doorframe, this time in the hallway.

Shikamaru experienced a chill when he remembered that the holes were where that Higurashi girl had gripped the doorframe in her anger. But these holes weren't made by fingernails; they would be crescent-shaped, otherwise. _These_ looked like they had been made by…claws.

Shikamaru's head whipped down towards the direction that Kagome had gone.

'_That girl… What the hell is she?_' he thought.

"Ne, Shikamaru! Why are you acting so weird? Did that guy scare you?" asked Naruto teasingly.

'_As if you weren't scared out of your wits too, you moron,_' thought Shikamaru.

Sighing, Shikamaru said, "Iie, it's nothing. Don't get your panties in a twist."

As Naruto complained that he did not wear panties, Shikamaru decided that he would have to be more wary of Higurashi Kagome from now on. Someone that could stop a monster like Gaara and grow claws was someone to be reckoned with.

-o-o-o-

"Do you think that she will like them?" Sango asked Touran.

Both of them were carrying a small stack of wrapped up parcels. Touga was trailing along behind them, peering interestingly into the shops along the street.

"Hopefully, she won't make _too_ much of a ruckus of changing her style of clothes. If she doesn't like them, she'll change them. I've heard that she makes a decent tailor and seamstress," commented Touran.

"Oh!" came a cry from behind them.

Sango and Touran turned around with surprise, to see their Tsukikage staring at a nearby bookshop with hopeful eyes.

Feeling their eyes on them, Touga turned to them and said, "You ladies can go on ahead. I have some additional shopping to do."

With a manic gleam in his eye, Touga hurried into the bookshop.

"What was that all about?" wondered Touran.

"He's probably going to see if another of his porno books has come out," said Sango, not breaking stride.

"Taku, he should consider himself lucky that most of the people back home don't know his reading habits," muttered Touran.

"Could you imagine their faces if they found out?" asked Sango, and they both stopped walking.

They turned towards each other and stared at each other's faces for moment, before erupting into a fit of laughter.

-o-o-o-

Kagome was very tense when she stepped cautiously out of the hospital entrance. Her hands were loosely clenched, and her palms were slick with sweat. Her heart was pounding fast, and her breathing was quick. When she stepped out of the hospital, she half-expected to be enveloped in a casing of sand, but was only slightly relieved when it didn't happen. The anticipation of attack was killing her.

He was waiting for her, she knew. She just didn't know where. Well, that was easily remedied. Taking a deep breath, Kagome closed her eyes and reached out with her senses. What she saw, with her mind and not her eyes, was a weird world of feeling and strange, whirling colors.

Everything alive was a silhouette surrounded by an outline of colors. Everything that lived had an aura, and this strange world was a world that consisted simply of auras. It was confusing to look at, because the colors were always changing and shifting, since auras also indicated feelings and emotions. It was also to be noted that the less intelligent a life form was, the less its aura changed.

Frowning slightly, Kagome searched out what Gaara's presence made her feel like. She remembered it made her feel like she was facing a bomb ready to go off, or maybe a caged animal that was biding its time to pounce. Kagome's mind searched the perimeter, moving out in a circle from her physical body.

_Bingo_. She found his presence waiting in an alley near the hospital. She shuddered when she saw how his aura was like black fire, indicating that he was _very_ angry. Bits of his own unique aura flickered through it, particles of teal green and pale yellow, which Kagome associated with wind.

Retracting her senses, Kagome opened her eyes. She squinted into the sunlight and took a deep breath. Her hands were trembling, so she clenched them into fists into order to stop them from shaking. She began walking out of the hospital's perimeter, leaving the behind the gate that was the entrance to the grounds of the hospital. Then she turned left, following the feeling that Gaara gave off.

Kagome furrowed her eyebrows and set her jaw stubbornly. Her eyes blazed like blue fire.

'_Ready or not, here I come…Gaara!_'

-o-o-o-

She was coming. Gaara could hardly hide his excitement, his bloodshot eyes wide and his mouth set into a sadistic grin. He was so angry at her, soooo angry. He licked his lips and wondered what her blood tasted like. He knew it would taste delicious; after all, she smelled especially delicious today. He also wanted to feel her lifeblood running on his fingers, little rivulets of red.

He was actually eager to see her again. All month, after their encounter during the full moon, he had waited patiently for her to appear again. And then he had finally grown impatient, angry with her for not appearing before him. Also, he wanted to see if she had followed his orders. When she had appeared in front of him today, it was immediately apparent that she had not.

She would pay dearly for that. He wouldn't kill her, oh no. 'Kaa-san', or – rather – Shukaku, would cause him great pain for that. Besides, he didn't really want to kill her, unlike with most people. He just wanted to make her bleed.

There! He could hear the sound of her footsteps coming down the dark alley where he hid, waiting for her. The alley actually turned at one point, so he was hiding around the corner. It was fairly quiet in the alley, and because of that, he could hear her breathe. It was quick with anticipation, and fear. She certainly smelled of fear. She should be; he wasn't happy with her at all.

The footsteps stopped. He could hear her take a deep breath, and her heartbeat slowed down. Against the wall where the alley turned, he could see her faint shadow. He smirked when he saw her defensive, hunched stance with her fists clenched.

"I know you're there…Gaara!" she spat without a trace of fear in her voice.

Gaara had to congratulate her for her bravado. But courage wasn't going to save her now. Quietly, he removed the plug from the gourd on his back. Sand began to trickle out, barely making any sound. And once a sufficient amount had poured out, he pounced.

-o-o-o-

Kagome heard the sand before she saw it. The 'shhh' was unmistakable as a wave of sand quite suddenly hurtled around the corner of the alley towards her. She dove out of the way, barely avoiding the sand in time. But it came after her again, and Kagome saw Gaara step into her part of the alley. He was grinning sadistically, his eyes triumphant.

'_His youki…_' thought Kagome, '_He's emitting so much youki!_'

A stab of pain went through Kagome's skull, and she winced while grabbing her forehead. She gritted her teeth as she narrowly dodged the sand again, the pain increasing in her head. In Kawarubi's cage, Kagome could feel the Bijuu pacing about restlessly and slamming herself against the bars every now and then.

'**Let me out!**' demanded the Bijuu.

'_No! I won't!_' Kagome told the youkai.

'**He wants to fight! His Bijuu wishes to test our strengths!**'

'_Urusei! Can't you see I'm trying not to get killed?_'

Pushing herself off one of the alley's narrow walls, Kagome propelled herself away from a sand attack. But her foot slipped on some sand particles on the wall, making her fall with an 'oof!' to the ground. She pushed herself up again, and stood in order to dodge once more.

Her eyes widened. The wall of sand was hurtling straight for her, and it was almost to her. There was no time to jump out of the way! Kagome held out outstretched arms, her palms up. It was a useless effort to try and ward off the oncoming sand. As the wind picked up, and sand grains began to pelt her body, Kagome squeezed her eyes shut.

More sand came, and Kagome shouted mentally, '_HELP ME!_'

Then there came a sound that was music to her ears. The tinkling of ice crystals colliding against the sand made her nearly faint with relief. Cracking an eye open, Kagome was met with the sight of tiny, clear hailstones pushing the sand away from her. Once the sand was warded off, the hailstones morphed into snowflakes.

Behind the wall of sand, Gaara's eyes were wide, the only indication that he was incredulous. He no longer smiled, and his lips were set in a tight line. Kagome felt a grim satisfaction of having wiped his smirk off his face.

'_I did it again… I've never used these ice crystals until I met _him_,_' thought Kagome.

In the dim light of the alley, the snowflakes danced and reflected light all around her. She wondered how to control them, and had little time to think as Gaara renewed his efforts to 'sand' her. Without thinking, Kagome thrust out her right hand, palm out, at the wall of sand. To her surprise, the ice crystals obeyed her will, but did not form into hailstones. The sand was barely warded off due to this.

'_Kuso! How do I get it to do that again!_' thought Kagome, dodging an onslaught of sand.

Yet another stab of pain went through her skull. She took a sharp intake of breath and grabbed her aching temple.

'**Baka koinu! You have to **_**tell**_** it what to do with your mind!**' raged Kawarubi from inside her human prison.

'_Why didn't you say so earlier? I haven't done this before, you moron!_' Kagome retaliated, but did as the Bijuu said.

She focused her mind on the sand and then onto her snowflakes. She silently willed them to change shape and harden. Once the snowflakes were irregular-shaped hailstones, Kagome felt a flood of relief. She thrust out her palm again, forcing the hailstones to bombard against the sand. Her relief was short-lived, however, when the sand retaliated by redirecting upwards and then splitting into two groups.

Kagome did not even have time to react. As quick as a flash, the sand was whirling around her, cutting into her skin and getting into her hair. Then it was wrapping around her body like a giant boa constrictor, pinning her arms to her sides and locking her legs together. Once the sand had settled, Kagome saw she was in quite a predicament.

Her entire body, excluding her chest and upwards, was encased in the eternally shifting sand. She tried to wriggle in order to free herself, but the sand limited all movement. There came the sound of footsteps, and Kagome remembered Gaara.

Her head jerked upwards, her eyes as wide as saucers. He was coming towards her, his breathing labored as it had been in the hospital. His bloodshot eyes were anticipatory. And his mouth was curved into a cruel smirk.

"Let me go!" cried Kagome, still wriggling as she tried to free herself.

Gaara didn't answer. He simply continued to advance upon her as if he were stalking his prey. Kagome realized that was exactly what he was doing. So she mustered up the remainder of her courage and glared at him defiantly, her teeth clenched as her breath came out in little hisses.

The redhead stopped right in front of her, still saying nothing. He was now glaring right back her.

"What do you want?" asked Kagome angrily.

"You know," answered Gaara finally.

"Gomen, I've forgotten," said Kagome sarcastically, "Perhaps you could remind me again?"

Gaara reached one pale hand out towards her face. Kagome stiffened, and her snowflakes, which had reverted back into themselves, began to solidify again. They clinked together, threatening the one that meant harm to the one that they protected. In answer, Gaara made the sand around Kagome's lower body tighten painfully.

Kagome took a sharp intake of breath through her teeth, but didn't give any other indication that she was in pain. The snow crystals abated, and continued to float harmlessly in the air.

"I told you to keep this scar uncovered. And you did nothing. You didn't even come to ask me why I ordered you to do this," said Gaara, pushing aside a lock of hair to expose the scar on her face.

'_Did he…want to see me? What a weird way of asking for company…_' thought Kagome.

"I want you to keep your hair away from this scar," said Gaara, tracing the pale line that contrasted against her lightly tanned skin, "or the consequences will be worse next time."

"So what do you intend to do to me?" Kagome asked, wondering what sort of 'consequences' he had in store for her.

Gaara didn't answer; instead, his eyes were transfixed by an especially long cut on the right side of her neck. Dark red blood was welling up from the wound, rolling down her neck and into her shirt. Gaara leaned closer, which made Kagome freeze up. She wondered what in the world he was doing when his head lowered and went for her neck. Feeling his breath on her neck, she tried to shy away, but still could not move.

Tentatively, Gaara's tongue licked up some of the blood on Kagome's neck. Kagome gasped and shivered at the strange sensation.

"W-what are you doing?" she demanded fearfully.

Again, Gaara did not speak. He had currently gone into a high at the taste of Kagome's blood. Eagerly, he followed the trail of blood going up her neck with his tongue. Once his tongue found the source of blood, he slowly licked over the cut on her neck. Kagome hissed at the sudden stinging pain.

"What the hell do you think you're doing? Yameru! Answer me!" Kagome demanded again, this time with more anger.

She struggled against her bonds made of sand, trying without success to escape the redhead's touch. The anger inside her was building, ready to erupt if need be.

Gaara, however, was being controlled by his baser instincts. Testosterone was raging through his body, and Shukaku urging him on wasn't helping any. Shukaku nudged him to go lower, to the junction of Kagome's neck and shoulder.

'**Mark her, and she will be yours, forever!**' promised Shukaku.

Grabbing hold of the shoulder of her shirt, Gaara pulled down Kagome's shirt until her shoulder was bare. Kagome tried to twist away, struggling with more force now. This situation reminded her too much of the one with that bastard Ryuusa, who had tried to molest her when she was little.

Suddenly, she felt Gaara's teeth start to bite down onto the junction of her neck and shoulder.

'**Don't let him–!**' began Kawarubi urgently, but Kagome was already reacting.

"TEME!" Kagome yelled, every pore in her body emitting reiki out of instinct.

To Gaara's chakra and, importantly, youki-filled sand, this was all that was needed to get him to lose his hold on her. Gaara actually gasped and cried out slightly while doubling over in pain. His sand floated free from Kagome's body, and that gave her the advantage she wanted. As hard as she could, she punched Gaara in the jaw. Since most of Gaara's sand was currently wrapped around Kagome, and because her punch was so quick, Gaara had little time to react.

The force of the punch threw him back several feet, and Gaara landed on his back, skidding against the ground as he landed.

Pulling her collar back up, Kagome pointed at him angrily and yelled, "I'm going to kick your ass, teme!"

Gaara rubbed his sore jaw. He had now been punched twice today, and he wasn't very happy about it. Glaring at Kagome, he began to push himself back up. He had barely gotten on his feet when he heard the sound of running sandals and air rushed past his ear as Kagome aimed a punch at him. Gaara's eyes widened when he realized that just like with Lee, Kagome's speed was enough to get past his sand.

Now it was Gaara's turn to dodge and run as Kagome came at him from what seemed several directions in the matter of seconds. She aimed punches and kicks in his direction, all of which he barely avoided.

"How dare you treat me like an object!" Kagome yelled, aiming what she thought was a well-deserved kick towards Gaara's groin.

She was disappointed when he managed to dodge that one, as well.

"Teme!" Kagome yelled again, this time aiming a punch.

"Kagome-sama?" came a young voice from behind Kagome, towards the entrance to the alleyway.

Kagome froze; she knew that voice. With horror, Kagome turned just enough to see her oldest brother's ward standing a couple yards behind her with a bemused expression on her face.

"Rin-chan!" Kagome breathed with fear.

As she glanced back at Gaara, she found that he was no longer where he had been standing.

'_Chikushou! You fool!_' Kagome thought, '_Never take your eyes off your enemy!_'

Acting in haste, Kagome dashed over to Rin and pulled the little girl protectively against her body. Her eyes scanned the alleyway before her, searching for any sign of Gaara.

"Kagome-sama?" asked Rin with confusion.

"Shhh," said Kagome, trying to make out any sign of the redheaded Suna nin.

With her senses, she searched out for any of the _feeling_ he gave off, and she found that its trail led upward. Her head snapped up, and she saw that Gaara was staring down at her and Rin, with his gourd corked and his arms crossed.

Kagome stared right back at him, her eyes narrowed. She tensed when he made a hand seal, but he merely disappeared into swirl of sand. And with that, his very presence vanished, reassuring Kagome that he was really gone.

"Kagome-sama? Who was that strange boy? And why were you fighting him?" asked Rin, blinking up at Kagome.

"We were just having a little argument, Rin-chan," Kagome said, smiling down reassuringly at the little girl whom she considered her niece.

Kagome craned her neck to look behind her at her pack, which she had secured tightly in place before fighting Gaara. It didn't even have a scratch.

"Kagome-sama, you're bleeding!" said Rin with concern, noticing the numerous cuts on Kagome's face and arms.

"Now what have I told you about calling me that? You can just call me 'Kagome-san' or just Kagome. 'Sama' makes me feel old," grumped Kagome playfully.

"Un!" exclaimed Rin.

"Did Sango-san bring you here? To Konoha?" asked Kagome.

"Uh-huh! And Kohaku-san, too!" chirped Rin.

"Who are you talking to, Rin-chan?" came a young boy's voice.

Both girls looked up to see Kohaku walk into view. The younger brother of Sango squinted his eyes into the alley, and then visibly jumped and reddened when he saw who he was looking at.

"K-kagome-sama!" stuttered Kohaku, his face tomato-red.

'_Not _another _one…_' Kagome thought with exasperation, really hating the suffix both the boy and girl had addressed to her.

"Yo, Kohaku-kun!" Kagome said, raising her hand towards the younger boy.

"K-konnichiwa, Kagome-sama!" said Kohaku, bowing hastily.

"You don't have to act so formal around me, Kohaku-kun!" said Kagome, frowning at him.

"Demo…" began Kohaku, looking at his feet and rubbing the back of his neck.

"No buts! You can just call me Kagome! Both of you can!" said Kagome with finality.

"Kagome-san, you're hurt," said Kohaku, looking at her with concern.

"Ah, they're just scratches! They'll heal in no time!" said Kagome, waving her hand in the air.

"Un…" said Kohaku, accepting her answer hestitantly.

"Rin is playing Ninja, Kagome-san!" said Rin happily.

"Sou? Who's winning?" asked Kagome.

"No one. The game's forfeit since you started talking to Kagome-nee-chan!" came Shippou's voice from behind Kohaku.

"Otouto! And Kirara-chan, too!" exclaimed Kagome, seeing Kirara in Shippou's arms.

"Ne, ne! Wasn't Kirara playing, too? If so, you shouldn't be holding her!" said Rin crossly.

"The game's paused!" retaliated Shippou, who stuck his tongue out at Rin afterward.

"Hey, now. You don't have to start getting angry at each other! How 'bout I play, and I'll be It?" suggested Kagome.

"That's no fair, Kagome-nee-chan! You could sense us out in no time!" protested Shippou.

"I won't use my reiki to find you. Pinky promise?" said Kagome, holding up her little finger.

Frowning, Shippou came forward.

"Pinky promise," he said, wrapping his smaller pinky around Kagome's and they shook pinkies once to seal the deal.

"And if you break your promise, you have to wear a dress for one whole day!" said Shippou.

"Yoshi," agreed Kagome, though she was trembling on the inside; there was no way in hell that she was ever going to wear a dress!

"Alright, you count to a hundred, and we'll go hide in the surrounding area!" said Shippou.

Kagome nodded, and all of the children, including Kirara, ran off to hide. Covering her eyes with her hands and facing the wall of the alley, Kagome began to count. Continuing to count, she glanced down at the junction of her shoulder and neck where Gaara had started to bite down.

The teeth imprints were still visible.

-o-o-o-

"Taku, why did that ama have to hit me so hard?" said InuYasha, rubbing his sore head.

"Maybe because you were being an ass," suggested Renkotsu.

"I am not an ass!" InuYasha shot back, and Renkotsu grinned at how easy it was to antagonize the younger boy.

The group of young men was currently touring the streets of Konoha. InuYasha had made sure that the other two were between him and Jakotsu; there was no way that he'd let the weirdo get his groping hands on him.

"So, what should we do?" asked Shuuran, looking at his companions.

"I dunno, maybe we should scout for some hot chicks," said Renkotsu, shrugging.

"Or some hot guys," said Jakotsu, causing the others to lean away from him.

"But all I want is right here!" continued Jakotsu happily, diving for InuYasha.

"Agh! Get away from me, you crazy person!" yelped InuYasha, dodging Jakotsu's hands.

"Nothing can keep us from each other, Inu-koi!" squealed Jakotsu, going for his favorite person again.

"Not unless I have a say in it, teme!" InuYasha said, dodging from Jakotsu once more.

"I've got you!" said Jakotsu, managing to grab InuYasha and latch onto him.

"Get off of me!" yelled InuYasha.

"Oi! You guys!" came a familiar voice from behind them.

Renkotsu and Shuuran looked behind them with grunts of surprise. Jakotsu had his arms around InuYasha, his face snuggled into the red-clad boy's shirt. When he heard the voice, he turned his head towards the noise. InuYasha's arms were pinned by Jakotsu's relentless grip, his teeth gritted in anger and pain. He turned his head also when he heard the voice of one of his teammates.

"I was wondering where you guys were," said Miroku, puffing for air.

"What have you been doing?" asked Renkotsu, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, we went around Konoha and took a break. Hora, Sesshoumaru-sensei even let me have the katana that I practiced with!" said Miroku proudly, patting the saya tied at his side.

"_You_ have been practicing kenjutsu?" asked InuYasha, gasping for breath; Jakotsu was steadily increasing his grip on him.

"As a matter of fact, I have," said Miroku seriously, "So that I can beat _you_ in tomorrow's competition!"

"Hah! What has the world come to? The chances of you winning against me is as high as pigs flying!" retorted InuYasha.

"Enjoying yourself, otouto?" came Sesshoumaru's cool voice from behind Miroku.

Everyone watched the scion of the Taishou family walk up, his demeanor calm and composed, as always.

"Look, it's Lord Pinhead," grouched InuYasha.

Sesshoumaru merely raised an eyebrow and said, "I did not realize that you swung both ways, otouto."

At his words, InuYasha face reddened.

"I'M NOT GAY, YOU EGOTISTICAL MORON OF A BROTHER!" shouted InuYasha, freeing his arms in burst of energy that sent Jakotsu flying with a confused look on his face.

"I didn't know he had such a large vocabulary," muttered Renkotsu; Shuuran nodded in agreement.

-o-o-o-

"What happened to you?" asked Sango, looking at the dried blood on Kagome's skin.

Kagome had just arrived back at their quarters, dusty and sweaty. The other three with her were in the same condition. Rin and Shippou looked exhausted but happy; Kohaku just looked exhausted.

"I got into an arm-wrestling contest with a Suna nin," said Kagome, setting down her pack near her belongings; Sango sighed.

"Will you ever stop picking fights with enemy shinobi, Kagome-chan?" she asked with exasperation.

"Hey, I wasn't the one that started it this time. No, I'm serious!" said Kagome, catching Sango's look of disbelief.

"Picking fights aside," came Touran's voice, "we have something for you."

Kagome looked up with surprise to see the blue-haired woman walk into the room with several packages.

"What is it! What is it! New kunai?" asked Kagome, her eyes shining with excitement.

"Iie," said Touran,

"New shuriken?"

"Iie," said Touran, beginning to think that Kagome really wasn't going to like what was in the packages.

"New–" began Kagome, but Sango interrupted.

"Why don't you just open them, Kagome-chan?" suggested Sango.

"Yoshi!" said Kagome, running over to the low table where Touran had set the packages down.

Shippou and Rin followed her eagerly. Kohaku merely went over to a wall and slid down against it until he was an exhausted heap on the floor. Kirara walked over to him, cocking her head and mewing.

Carefully but quickly, Kagome unwrapped the first package. She blinked and looked around at Sango and Touran.

"New…clothes?" she said hesitantly.

She held one of the new pairs of navy-blue sashinuki hakama that she had unwrapped. Her eyes were confused.

"I took the liberty of telling Tsukikage-sama that you needed new clothes…" began Sango.

"I KNEW IT!" exclaimed Kagome, pointing an accusing finger at her older friend.

"…_and_ we went clothes shopping," continued Sango, her eyebrow twitching with annoyance.

"I made sure that she didn't pick anything girly, Kagome-chan. Just appropriate for a girl your age, ne?" reassured Touran, who was hoping the younger girl wasn't about to go off like a time bomb.

"Tou-san went _clothes shopping_ with you?" asked Kagome, blinking with surprise.

"Hai," said Sango.

"Then where is he now?" said Kagome, looking around as if to expect her eccentric adopted father to pop out of a closet or something.

"He stopped off at _bookstore_," said Sango, and Kagome immediately understood.

"Tou-san…went clothes shopping…" said Kagome out loud, looking down at the hakama she was holding.

And then she burst out laughing.

"Do you realize how ridiculous that sounds?" she snorted between laughs.

"I assure you, he only paid for the clothes. He didn't help us look for them," said Touran dryly, raising an eyebrow.

"Taku, I thought he would have helped," muttered Kagome, taking the wrapping paper off of another package.

Within a couple of minutes, all of the packages were unwrapped. Kagome saw that there were three sets of clothing made of breathable silk, while a fourth identical set was of cotton and fleece.

"The first three sets are for regular day-to-day wearing. The last one is for cooler weather," explained Touran.

"Why don't you go try one of the regular ones on?" suggested Sango.

Kagome looked doubtful but nodded. Taking a set of clothes with her, she ventured into the bathroom, sliding the door shut behind her. She placed the clothes on the counter and looked at her reflection in the mirror.

Grimacing, Kagome turned on the faucet of the sink and washed away the blood that was from her now nonexistent cuts. Once her skin was free of blood, she picked up the first article of clothing.

It was a sleeveless, navy-blue keiko-gi. Kagome untied her hitai-ite, which was still tied to her upper arm, and took off her shirt. She slipped on the keiko-gi, which was very light against her skin. Then she unfolded the pair of sashinuki hakama and put those on, as well, after taking off her sandals and leg warmers with their concealed weights.

The next article of clothing, to her surprise, was a happi (10) that came a couple of inches above her wrists and came down mid-calf. It was the same color of blue as her regular clothing, though the obi she used to tie it closed with was a pale blue. She closed both sides – whose edges were navy-blue – of the happi on the right side of her hip, giving her the illusion that the flap on that side had a slit on it. The small 'V' at her neck pointed towards her left hip, the direction where she had tied it shut.

Kagome tied her hitai-ite on her forehead, watching her bangs fall back into place. Frowning, she saw that her bangs had covered the scar on the side of her face. After what had transpired today with Gaara, she would be fool to not listen to what he had told her. Gritting her teeth in anger, Kagome tucked the bangs that hid her scar behind the cloth of her hitai-ite, where they wouldn't be able to fall out easily.

'_Damn tyrannical terrorist of a Sunagakure shinobi,_' she cursed darkly.

She slipped her sandals, weights, and legwarmers on again, and contemplated herself in the mirror. She was actually quite angry that Sango had gone to her adopted father and gotten her new clothes. But Kagome had to admit, her shorts were getting a little too short for her taste…

Kagome decided that she didn't look too bad. She didn't look as boyish as she wanted, but – thank the kami – she wasn't too girly, either. Touran had done a fine job in guiding Sango in her shopping. Kagome could count on Touran to not make her _too_ girly, since the older woman wasn't too fond of girly clothes either. Sighing, she picked up the clothes that she had taken off from the floor.

Smoothing down her spiked-up hair due to playing Ninja all afternoon, Kagome faced the door to the bathroom. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes before slowly sliding the door open. Stepping cautiously out, Kagome made her way towards the others, who were chatting.

"Eh-hem," she said, crossing her arms grumpily.

Touran and Sango turned towards Kagome, and their mouths dropped open. Rin and Shippou smiled with childish delight at how pretty their older family member looked. Kohaku managed to look up from his exhausted heap on the floor, and turned tomato-red again. Kirara walked up to Kagome, looked up at her, and mewed her appreciation.

"You look…like a gi–" began Sango with amazement, before Touran clapped a hand over her mouth.

"You look wonderful. Nothing girly about it, at all!" said Touran cheerfully, shooting Sango an 'are-you-fricking-insane?' type of look.

"Hai, you look great! Nope, nothing girly about it all!" added Sango, once Touran was reassured that she wouldn't spout off about how Kagome actually looked like a girl.

"Really?" asked Kagome, stars in her eyes.

Touran and Sango merely nodded vigorously, not trusting themselves to speak. They couldn't believe that Kagome was actually buying into their act.

"Yoshi! That means I'll wear these from now on!" said Kagome, kicking a sandaled foot against the tatami mats on the floor.

"Though," she continued while walking back and forth, "I'll have to go walking around in order to get used to wearing them. It won't do for me to be tripping over myself tomorrow. And I'll also have to sew the family crest on the back."

Sango and Touran nodded, going along with what she was saying.

"Ne, who wants to eat out?" asked Kagome, looking around at the others.

"Me!" chimed Shippou, while Rin said, "Rin would!"; they raised their hands at the same time.

"I w-would," said Kohaku from the floor.

Kagome looked at Sango and Touran.

"We'll stay here, Kagome-chan, and tell Tsukikage-sama where you've gone," said Touran.

"Un," said Kagome, nodding with acceptance.

She turned to her volunteers, clapped her hands together, and said, "We'll go now! I know a really good place here in town that serves really good ramen!"

"Yay for ramen!" chorused Rin and Shippou.

These two immediately dashed for the door outside the room, while Kagome went over to Kohaku and helped him to his feet. To everyone's bewilderment, Kagome also went over to her belongings and picked up her erhu case. She slung its strap over her shoulder.

Looking around and seeing everyone's curious gazes, she said, "What? I'm not made of money, you know. I'm almost out."

"You're going to play for money?" asked Sango, sweatdropping.

"Works like a charm," said Kagome, smirking and saluting Sango with two fingers.

"Yatta! Kagome-san's going to play for money!" cried Rin and Shippou, dancing around.

This earned sweatdrops from Touran, Sango, and even a tired Kohaku.

"Ja ne, Sango-san, Touran-san!" called Kagome, sliding open the shoji door and going out into the hallway.

Shippou, Rin, and Kohaku followed her out like ducklings following their mother.

"Ja ne!" called the younger two, waving.

Kohaku merely waved tiredly, and closed the shoji door behind them. Once the sound of their footsteps died away, Touran and Sango exchanged glances.

Touran raised her eyebrows and said in a surprised voice, "That went well."

-o-o-o-

"Sir, it's nearly closing time," came the cashier's voice from the counter.

Touga looked up in surprise, and then glanced out the window. It was early evening, the last rays of sunlight fading as the lamps outside came to life. He had been so engrossed in the book he was holding that he hadn't noticed the passing of time.

"Ah, sumimasen. This is a really good book," he said, holding up the latest edition of Icha Icha Paradise in his hand.

The cashier smiled knowingly and said, "I know. Those are all the rage around here. Whenever business is slow, I read them to pass the time."

Smiling, Touga put the book on top of the little stack he had collected and went up to the counter. The cashier scanned the Icha Icha Paradise, and then picked up the next book. He blinked in surprise at the title.

"_Genji Monogatari_ (_The Tale of Genji_), sir?" he asked questioningly.

"For my daughter," Touga explained.

"She's into romantic novels?" asked the cashier, checking the price of the book.

"Not…exactly," said Touga, sweatdropping and smiling.

"Then why get her the book, if you don't mind me asking, sir?" inquired the cashier.

"Well, it's a classic. And she's mostly into books about military tactics or jutsu. I thought this might be a nice change from what she's used to reading. It's rather hard to have a tomboy for a daughter. Sometimes I wish that she chased after boys like other girls, but she's always training or studying some book about nindou," said Touga.

"Actually, sir, you have it quite nice. I have three daughters, and two of them are teens. All they ever do is talk about boys, and it gets quite annoying," said the cashier, smiling with amusement as he added the price of _The Art of War by Sun Tzu_ to _Genji Monogatari_.

"I'll keep that in mind," said Touga, nodding as he watched the cashier look at the next book, a book about advanced jutsu.

"Here you are, sir. Including your book, the total comes up to a hundred ryou," said the cashier, putting the books into a bag.

Touga fished out his wallet and pulled out several notes. He handed them to the cashier, who took them graciously.

"And your change, sir–" began the cashier.

"Keep the change," said Touga, bowing his head at the clerk before heading to the door.

The cashier watched him go, his eyes as wide as saucers. After the bell to the shop rang, indicating Touga's exit, he glanced down at the notes in his hand. He was speechless; the man had paid nearly twice the amount the books had cost!

Sweatdropping, the cashier put the bills into the cash register and thought, '_Just when you think life is back to normal, someone like that guy comes along and changes it around again…_'

-o-o-o-

Grimacing in distaste, Kagome snapped her wallet shut. Ignoring the stares she was getting because of her visible scar, she looked at the expectant faces of her entourage. They were eager to see what her money situation was, and it wasn't good.

"Wari na, minna," said Kagome, smiling nervously and rubbing the back her neck, "Looks like I'll have to play for some cash."

"Yatta! Where are we going to play?" asked Rin, looking at Kagome expectantly.

"Eh…" said Kagome, looking around.

They were currently at the edge of the street, standing next to a shop that had closed down for the night. There weren't quite as many people out as there had been during the day, but there were still plenty enough to earn money from. But Kagome needed some more space for what she was about to do.

"I know just the perfect place!" said Kagome, taking Rin and Shippou's hands.

Quickly, they made their way through the streams of people. Kagome found it was easier to navigate during the evening, and had reached Kagome's destination in no time.

Kohaku blinked and looked around, saying, "Where are we, Kagome-san?"

"This is near the training grounds for the Konoha shinobi," explained Kagome, putting down her erhu case.

"Demo…there's hardly anyone here," pointed out Shippou, and he was right; very few passersby were near.

"Ah, but we are near enough to the streets that people will hear my erhu. And it has quieted down, so the sound will be carried better. They'll be flocking in no time," said Kagome, lifting up the locks that held her erhu case shut.

Carefully, Kagome opened the lid and was relieved to see her erhu safe and sound. She gingerly took it and its bow out of its case. Sitting down at the base of a large tree, she propped the end of the erhu on her thigh. She put the bow between the two strings and pulled both of them while plucking the strings, checking to see if the instrument was tuned.

The other three watched as their senior cocked her head and played different notes on the erhu. If a note didn't seem to sound right, she turned one of the keys at the top to correct it.

Finally, Kagome looked up at them and said, "So, what do you want me to play?"

"Play 'Kagome Kagome', Kagome-nee-chan!" said Shippou, and Kagome snorted at the mouthful of words.

"Un! And we'll sing the words for you!" added Rin.

"Un, that'll be good, Rin-chan," said Kagome, smiling fondly at her 'niece'.

"Rin will start out first, then when the song starts again, Shippou-chan will join me, and then Kohaku-san will join us the third time!" said Rin, and the other two children nodded in agreement.

"Hora, people already starting to gather, Kagome-nee," whispered Shippou, and it was true.

People who had been passing by were curious about the kunoichi and her instrument. Most of them didn't know what kind of instrument it was, so several had lingered to hear what sort of sound it would make.

Pulling the bow, Kagome began to play. The first note pierced the night air, and the waiting people let out their expecting breath. But they held it again, when the following, slow notes came together into a familiar, childhood song.

Once the song had been played through slowly just by instrument, Kagome nodded to Rin, who understood. The little girl stood up and went over to Kagome's side, clasping her hands behind her back as if she were about to recite a poem. As the first verse began to play, Rin opened her mouth to sing.

"Kagome, kagome… Kago no naka no tori wa…" she sang, her voice a sweet girl's soprano.

Kagome saw out of the corner of her eye that the previous crowd of people was coming closer, and that it had grown significantly.

"Itsu itsu deyaru… Yoake no ban ni…"

Shippou had started to fidget; he was obviously impatient to start his turn of the song. Kagome hid a smile at this.

"Tsuru to kame ga subetta… Ushiro no shomen dare…?" Rin sang, the last syllable extending softly.

Kagome caught Shippou's eye, and nodded to tell him that he was up next. Grinning, the little red-haired boy scrambled up and took his place on the other side of his big sister.

"Kagome, kagome… Kago no naka no tori wa…" began Rin and Shippou, Shippou's boy soprano mixing in with Rin's voice.

Ignoring the growing crowd of curious onlookers, Kagome continued to pull the bow of the erhu and press the strings up and down to the neck to produce different notes. Her hand jerked to give the erhu one of its exotic capabilities, her fingers rapidly pressing up and down (11). She had sped up a little, so that there was some differentiation between each time the song was played.

"Itsu itsu deyaru… Yoake no ban ni… Tsuru to kame ga subetta… Ushiro no shomen dare…?"

Kohaku stood up when Kagome nodded at him, walking over to stand next to Rin. His lower-tone joined that of Rin and Shippou's sopranos. Although he hadn't reached puberty yet, he didn't have the voice of a young child, either. Kagome continued to play, instinct and practice allowing her fingers to dance across the neck of the erhu as she made the notes.

"…Ushiro no shomen dare…?" finished the three children, and both their voices and Kagome's notes on her erhu were extended until an abrupt finish.

An eruption of applause from the crowd, who were now in front of Kagome and her younger companions; Rin, Shippou, and Kohaku bowed at the noise. Kagome bowed her head, since she was sitting down.

"What should I play now, Kohaku-kun?" asked Kagome, causing the boy to start and blush.

"Ano…'Sakura Sakura'?" said Kohaku, speaking the first song that came to mind.

"Yoshi. You guys are going to sing again, so be ready," said Kagome, and started playing the first notes.

Like before, she played the first song only instrumental. Once she started on next repetition, Rin began to sing again.

"Sakura, sakura…"

-o-o-o-

Neji paused and cocked his head. He listened intently; he was sure that he had just heard something unusual. Tenten, who continued walking, realized that Neji was no longer in stride with her and stopped.

"What's the matter, Neji-kun?" asked Tenten, looking back at him with puzzlement.

Neji didn't answer; instead, he continued to listen.

"What are you–?" began Tenten, before she grunted in surprise.

"What's that sound?" she said, turning towards the source of the noise.

The strange noise was coming from nearby. To them, it sounded like some strange kind of instrument, probably of foreign origin. And they weren't the only ones to hear it either; the people in the street where talking amongst themselves and pointing, before running off towards the source of the noise.

Without speaking, Neji began walking towards the noise. Tenten grunted in surprise again, and ran to catch with him.

"C-chotto matte, Neji-kun!" she said, running up beside him.

They followed the streams of people towards the source of the noise. To their surprise, it led next to one of the forests that grew in Konoha. There was already a large crowd of people, who were whispering with awe and excitement. Now Neji and Tenten could not only hear the instrument, but the sound of a young girl singing.

"Yayoi no sora wa, miwatasu kagiri…"

"What kind of music is this…? I've never heard anything like it!" exclaimed Tenten.

Suddenly, Neji began pushing his way through the crowd of observers. He wanted to get a look at who was playing the instrument, and who was singing. Tenten reluctantly followed him, wincing when Neji wasn't too careful in his pushing. Apparently, he was quite interested to see what was happening in the front.

The young girl's voice was joined by another, a young boy by the sound of it, and they began singing the same verses over. Neji became more persistent in his attempts to get to the front of the crowd. Tenten began to wonder why Neji was acting this way.

"Neji-kun! Why are you in such a hurry…?" Tenten called after him, ignoring the glares sent their way from Neji's push victims.

Finally, Neji reached the front of the crowd. Another boy had begun singing, a boy obviously older than the owners of the first two voices. Neji's eyes widened minutely at the sight before him.

It was _her_, the one whom he was determined to win the affection of. She was sitting cross-legged on the ground, a strange instrument propped up on her thigh. And she hadn't noticed him; she was watching her hands play the instrument. Every once in a while, she would look at one of the three children that were singing to the notes of her instrument.

"Iza ya iza ya, mi ni yukan (12)," finished the three children, and the music stopped with a flourishing finish.

The crowd began to clap and whistle, and money was thrown into the girl's open instrument case. Neji recognized the case as the one the girl had been carrying around during the earlier parts of the Chuunin exam. He had expected it to be full of weapons, not to be carrying around something utterly useless. Though, Neji noted, the girl _was_ earning money by playing, so it wasn't _entirely_ useless.

A thought struck him. Why was she, obviously of noble blood, playing for money? She was fairly well off, judging from her new clothing; Neji noted that her newest outfit was made of the best type of silk.

Another new thing about her drew him. Along the right side of her face was a long, pale scar obviously created by a kunai. It had been a long wound, since it went down her jaw and to her neck. And it was not new, Neji noticed. Scars were usually pale pink when new; this scar was almost pure white, and was stretched a little by skin growth. It had obviously healed a long time ago. Neji suspected that she had been hiding the scar behind her bangs, which were now tucked away on that side of her face. He wondered why she had suddenly changed her mind.

A voice snapped him out of his thoughts.

"Well, if it isn't 'slug boy'."

Neji started, and found himself staring into sapphire blue eyes.

-o-o-o-

Kagome smirked when she saw Hyuuga Neji jump; he had obviously been daydreaming. He had been staring at her the whole time she had played 'Sakura Sakura' on her erhu.

Deciding to ignore him, she focused on gathering up the money she had earned by playing. Shippou and Rin were already digging in her erhu case and counting the amount they had received. Kohaku was watching Neji warily.

'_This is quite a bit… We could eat out for a couple nights with all of this!_' thought Kagome with wonder.

"Why is someone of your status stooping to this level?" came Neji's voice.

"Nani?" said Kagome absently, looking sharply up at him out of the corner of her eye.

"You are of noble rank, are you not?" asked Neji; Tenten watched this exchange with puzzlement.

"What I do or not do is irrelevant of my rank. I play for money because I need it for food," answered Kagome.

"You do not get an allowance?" inquired Neji.

"I do, but I usually don't carry it around with me. I keep it in a bank and withdraw it when I need it. That way I'm not slowed down with useless weight during missions. And since I am not back home, I cannot withdraw some of my allowance," said Kagome, wondering why she was even answering him at all.

She hoped that this would satisfy him, but her hopes were dashed when he asked yet another question.

"Do you not have an image to maintain?"

"Iie. My image will never change for most in my village," answered Kagome, and her eyes darkened at the thought.

"What about those outside your village?"

"Do you make it a habit of being nosy?" Kagome snapped, glaring up at him; she didn't like people she didn't really know poking around in her personal life.

"Did I strike a nerve somewhere?" asked Neji, smirking slightly.

Kagome's gaze switched to Tenten, who jumped at the ferocity of Kagome's stare.

"Tenten-san," began Kagome.

Tenten seemed surprised that Kagome had bothered to remember her name.

"Are you allowed to harm or potentially maim your teammates?"

"N-nani?" said Tenten, wondering if she had heard correctly.

"If so, please knock out _Hyuuga-san_ here and drag him off. I no longer wish to speak to him," said Kagome, adopting the formal speech of aristocrats.

"Kagome-nee-chan!" said Shippou, "Are we going to eat soon?"

Kagome's mood made a one-eighty as she turned to speak to her younger brother.

"Hai, hai! Just as soon as I get my erhu packed up, and then we can go, ne?" soothed Kagome in a motherly voice.

"You have an otouto? He doesn't look anything like you," commented Neji.

To his surprise, Kagome adopted a sweet smile. He noticed that the three children with her had drawn back to give her some room. Even Tenten had gone pale at the look on Kagome's face.

"Bite me," said Kagome sweetly, and bent down to pick up her instrument case.

Neji's face turned pink with anger at her words. He felt like she had just flipped him off and told him to 'piss off' for extra measure.

Kagome ignored Neji and slung her erhu case over her shoulder.

"Ready?" she asked her companions, and they nodded.

She took Rin and Shippou's hands. Turning to Tenten, she gave the girl a small smile.

"Oyasumi (good night), Tenten-san. Sorry for the trouble this dolt you call your teammate has caused you," said Kagome.

Tenten's mouth dropped open at Kagome's audacity to call the Hyuuga prodigy a 'dolt'. The corner of her mouth twitched as she wondered whether Neji would be really angry if she just burst out laughing right now.

Kagome's gaze hardened as she glanced at Neji and said coolly, "Slug boy."

Then she simply turned and began walking away, holding the hands of the two younger children. Kohaku awkwardly followed her, wondering if he should apologize for Kagome's behavior.

As Neji watched Kagome's retreating back, he was still struck dumb. She had… She had…! She had called him a _dolt_! She had dared to insinuate that he was dumb, stupid, mentally incompetent! He continued to watch the infuriating girl's back, and further reddened with anger when the little redheaded kid twisted around so that he could see Neji, closed one eye, pulled down his other lower eyelid, and stuck out his tongue. Then he smirked and faced forward again.

Kagome smirked as well when she heard Tenten burst out laughing from behind her.

-o-o-o-

It was getting rowdy back at the quarters Kagome's team shared with Sango's team and Touga's entourage. Currently, everyone was back except for the little group that Kagome had taken out to eat. Touga, Sango, Miroku, and Touga's two bodyguards were watching the others with bored disinterest.

Due to the fact that InuYasha was verbally fighting with his older brother, they found that it held very little interest for them. These fights were usually about the same subject, so it was easy to block them out.

Renkotsu and Jakotsu were both sitting on the floor, grinning their faces off. While Renkotsu was grinning at the hysterically funny things that InuYasha was spouting off about his brother, Jakotsu was grinning because he was having perverse thoughts. Sesshoumaru and InuYasha were considered good-looking, especially when fighting, though the former was more so. It was unfortunate for them that Jakotsu was gay.

Quite suddenly, the door to the entrance to the hallway slammed open. Everyone stopped what they were doing to look. In the doorway stood an irritated Kagome, her hands on her hips in a classic 'angry female' pose.

"What the hell is going on here? I could hear you two streets over, bakamono!" scolded Kagome.

InuYasha and Sesshoumaru, however, were unabashed. Renkotsu's mouth dropped open, and his cup of watered-down sake fell to the floor. Jakotsu had his eyebrows raised politely. Miroku's eyes were twice the size they usually were, and Shuuran fell over in his astonishment; Touran rolled her eyes at her brother. Touga, like his oldest son, raised an eyebrow. InuYasha's reaction at Kagome's appearance, however, was the most exaggerated.

He burst out laughing loudly and pointed at Kagome, saying, "What the hell are you wearing? You look like a girl!"

Kagome's face reddened in anger. Behind her, Shippou, Rin, and Kohaku peered around her curiously into the room.

"Doesn't she? Doesn't she?" roared InuYasha with laughter, looking around the room.

Nobody, wisely, said anything. Though many of them agreed that Kagome did indeed look like a girl, they weren't willing enough to incur her famous wrath. Sesshoumaru took baby-steps sideways, getting out of the warpath.

"Uh, guys…?" said InuYasha, looking around, "Why aren't you saying anything?"

"What did you say, InuYasha?" came a deadly quiet voice from behind him.

InuYasha turned, and squeaked with fear at the spectacle that met him. To him, Kagome's entire form seemed to be engulfed in black fire, showing how angry she was. Her eyes seemed to glow demonically as she stood in a stance with her legs parted and her fists clenched at her sides. She gritted her teeth at him.

"He's going to get it," Shippou whispered to Rin and Kohaku, who nodded in agreement.

"YAROU!" Kagome roared, lifting up her erhu case and swinging it at InuYasha as she ran into the room.

Her unfortunate adopted brother had no time to dodge as the large pine case hit him in the chest, knocking out his wind. It also knocked him flat to the floor, where he lay gasping for air. This didn't last long, however, because Kagome set down her erhu case and jumped down on InuYasha with anger. Using her fore and middle fingers of one hand, she began zapping him wherever she sensed a tenketsu with her reiki.

"Itai! Itai!" cried InuYasha; usually, Kagome's reiki didn't hurt, but this was the first time that it felt like electricity zapping him!

"Call me a girl, will you? I'll show you!" said Kagome, and zapped him right on the jaw.

Already, the numbing sensation that reiki gave to a person was spreading. InuYasha now couldn't feel his arms and legs, as well as parts of his torso. His mouth fell open when he no longer had control of the muscles in his jaw. He didn't dare try to close his mouth in fear of biting his tongue off by accident.

Apparently satisfied, Kagome stood up and glared down at InuYasha.

Looking around the room, she said, "Does anyone else think I look like a girl?"

Everyone else shook their heads. Deeming it safe, the three children out in the hallway crept in and slid the door closed behind them.

"Sesshoumaru-sama!" cried out Rin, running over to Sesshoumaru and hugging him around the legs.

"Hello, Rin," said Sesshoumaru, patting his ward on the head.

"Kagome-san took us out to eat ramen!" chirped Rin happily.

"Did you enjoy it?" asked Sesshoumaru in his cool manner.

"Uh-huh!" said Rin, vigorously nodding her head.

Renkotsu and Shuuran were still staring at Kagome, who had sat down beside her bag. First she checked to see if her erhu was unharmed from her assault on InuYasha, then she took out her sewing kit and began unpicking the thread that sewed the Taishou family crest to her old clothes. It seemed she was going to start sewing it onto her new clothing.

"InuYasha," called Touga, "when you no longer have to roll around like a slug, I have to speak to you about something."

InuYasha didn't answer.

-o-o-o-

It was currently late at night, and InuYasha had finally regained the feeling in his limbs. His father had wanted to speak to him, so they had taken the conversation out into the hallway, so not to disturb anyone that was trying to sleep.

"What do you want to talk about, jii-san? I have a competition tomorrow," grumped InuYasha as soon as he had closed the shoji door.

"I have something for you," said Touga, reaching into his pocket to take out an object.

InuYasha's eyes widened when he recognized it.

"The…Saimyoushou hive?" he said, looking down at the round, papery husk.

"Un. I neglected to give it to you yesterday. Take it; this one is yours now," said Touga.

"Mine? Isn't it yours? Aren't you supposed to like lend it out to me or something?" asked InuYasha, taking the hive hesitantly into his hand.

Touga shook his head.

"Iie, you know it doesn't work like that. Saimyoushou are just like any other kind of summoning creature. You just didn't sign a contract like with other summoning animals. When you earned the trust of these girls, they became yours," he explained.

"Huh," said InuYasha, looking down at the wasp hive.

Then he saluted his father with two fingers, the other fingers gripping the hive, and said, "Arigatou, jii-san."

-o-o-o-

Kagome listened to her father and her brother talking in the hallway, and decided that the conversation was too boring. She was currently lying on the floor on her futon. Rin and Shippou were curled up next to her; they had fought over who would get to sleep next to her, so Kagome compromised by having one of them sleep back-to-back with her and the other one would sleep in front of her.

Everyone was quiet and most were asleep. Shuuran was snoring, before Touran blearily woke up and hit him over the head with her sandal. Kirara was curled up between Sango and Kohaku, who were sleeping side by side. It was the quiet before the storm that would surely arise during the morning as everyone rushed to get ready for the final Chuunin exam.

Reaching out to the being that dwelled between her shoulder blades, Kagome spoke to Kawarubi.

'_You know what is to be done?_' she confirmed with the Bijuu.

'**Hai, but I don't think it's a very good idea. All of that chakra and reiki…**' answered Kawarubi worriedly.

'_Never mind that! I know that I'll be up against Kikyou tomorrow, since that Dosu guy is dead. I smelled his dead body when I first encountered Gaara alone. He killed him,_' said Kagome.

'**What will people think when they find out you're a Jinchuuriki?**'

'_I don't care what people think,_' Kagome told her with finality, and blocked the Bijuu from her mind.

But they both knew that Kagome was lying, who was thinking about what her new acquaintances here in Konoha would think when they found out about her.

'_Repulsion… They always do,_' thought Kagome sadly, as she closed her eyes and went to sleep.

_**Owari**_

-o-o-o-

**Omake: The Man Next Door**

Ishida Ryuuichi was tired of his noisy neighbors. He had had to endure them for the better part of a month, and he was sick of listening to them yelling at each other.

He winced when he heard the sound of a young girl – the impudent girl from this morning, it sounded like – yelling 'yarou' at someone, and what sounded like body crashing to the floor. Sighing, Ryuuichi calmly folded his evening edition of the newspaper, got up, and went out of his apartment, muttering something about 'crazy ninja'.

Although he was wearing his pajamas and his robe, Ryuuichi walked two blocks from his apartment in that noisy complex and arrived at the apartment of his friend, Yamamoto Kuukai. He knocked on the door and waited.

Hearing the sounds of footsteps, the door opened. His bleary-eyed friend peeped out.

"Ryuuichi-kun? What are you doing here?" asked Kuukai sleepily.

"They put noisy Chuunin examinees next to me again. Can I stay over?" asked Ryuuichi.

"Sure, man. Come right in," said Kuukai, opening the door wider to let his friend in.

Closing the door behind Ryuuichi, he said, "You know, you need to find another place to live, man."

"I know, man," answered Kuukai's friend tiredly, "I know."

-o-o-o-

**Author's Notes**

(1) Apparently, the Japanese have two rooms in their bathrooms. It's more hygienic that way.

(2) Seriously, do ninja wash their hitai-ite _at all_? What with all the dirt, sweat, and other crap that gets in the cloth in the back of the metal protector, a ninja could get an acne epidemic!

(3) I just realized how wrong this would sound to someone walking in on the conversation at this point…

(4) 'Urusei' has been used a lot already, but it would just be a pain in the ass to go back and fix it… -_-;

(5) There is no 'L' sound in the Japanese language, so they substitute words with an 'L' in our culture with their 'R' sound. Their 'R' is soft and sounds like a cross between 'L' and 'R'.

(6) I do this all the time when I'm going to my next class. I'll leave one class, daydream (usually about ideas for fanfics -_-;) and snap out of it to find myself arriving in my next class. Kinda creepy…

(7) I didn't put Kirara in at all the previous chapter (smooth move, Mergatroid), but I went back and fixed it.

(8) This is probably one of most memorable phrases from Naruto. It's one of my favorites.

(9) Once again, this word has been used a lot already, and it would be frustrating to go back and fix the previous chapters.

(10) A 'happi' is a traditional Japanese straight-sleeved coat. It is usually made of indigo or brown cloth with a crest on the back. Firemen wore happi during the Edo Period of Japan.

(11) If you are confused by this description, just watch a performance of someone playing an erhu. You'll see what I mean by the 'jerking' and the 'pressing up and down'. I watched Yu Hongmei on YouTube play the 'Yu Bei Ballad' to see how someone played an erhu.

(12) This is also a song dating from the Sengoku Jidai or older, along with 'Kagome Kagome', though it isn't a children's song. The full lyrics and translation are as follows:

'Sakura, sakura  
Noyama mo sato mo, miwatsu kagiri  
Kasumi ka, kumo ka, asahi ni nio  
Sakura, sakura, hanazakari

Sakura, sakura  
Yayoi no sora wa, miwatsu kagiri  
Kasumi ka, kumo ka, nioi zo izuru  
Iza ya iza ya, mi ni yukan'

'Cherry blossoms, cherry blossoms  
Blanketing the countryside  
As far as you can see  
Is it a mist, or clouds?  
Fragrant in the morning sun  
Cherry blossoms, cherry blossoms  
Flowers in full bloom

Cherry blossoms, cherry blossoms  
Across the spring sky  
As far as you can see  
Is it a mist, or clouds?  
Fragrant in the air  
Come now, come  
Let's look, at last!'

-o-o-o-

***pant* *pant* **Sorry for the late update, folks! Also, sorry if this chapter is a little messy. I was hoping to get this up just in time for Christmas, but sadly didn't make it in time. A bonus is that this is such a large chapter – 65 PAGES!

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it!


	21. Chapter XIX: Finals

Contrary to what you may believe, I am in fact NOT dead. I have been revising all my last chapters (which was a total pain in the ass) but most of my mistakes should be fixed.

**I also recommend that you go back and reread Chapter Seventeen**, since I changed the part where Neji sees the scars on Kagome's back. I decided to remove the part where Kagome had the Seven Deadly Sins branded on her back, though I may use that idea for another story. I had forgotten to write about the seal and the stripe on Kagome's back (***hits self in face***).

Disclaimer: You all know the drill. I don't own InuYasha or Naruto, though I totally wish that I had Kakashi ALL to myself ***heh heh***

"talking"

'_thinking_'

'**Bijuu talking to host**'

**Chapter Nineteen: Finals**

-o-o-o-

Karamitsuku kaze ni sakarai  
Ushinatta kisetsu wo sagashiteiru  
Wazuka demo mezasu houkou he  
Azayaka na kioku ga tsukiugokasu  
HOW MANY CUTS SHOULD I REPEAT?  
HOW MANY FATES SHOULD I ACCEPT?  
DOES IT HAVE AN END?

Defying the whirling wind  
I am searching for the lost season  
Even if it's only a little, it is towards the direction I'm aiming for  
That vivid memories provoke me  
How many cuts should I repeat?  
How many fates should accept?  
Does it have an end?

~ 'Season's Call' (Blood+ Opening Theme 2)  
Hyde

-o-o-o-

"Hora! Hurry up in there, Sango!" shouted InuYasha, pounding on the door of the bathroom.

The bathroom door slammed open, and a fist flew out and punched InuYasha in the face. InuYasha gave a yell and toppled to the floor, covering his now-injured nose. Out of the bathroom stormed an angry but tired-looking Sango, who stepped over InuYasha's body on the floor and made her way past everyone else.

It was early in the morning, and several people were waiting in line for the shower in the Kagome's team's quarters. Most of them were sleepy-eyed and yawning. Renkotsu had actually fallen asleep again while leaning against the wall, and Jakotsu was considering whether he should push his cousin over for the fun of it or not. The only one there that did not seem to be tired at all was Touga, who was smiling and humming to himself. Just looking at him made everyone feel even more tired. Jakotsu was also more alert than his country's, and almost as happy as his country's leader, probably due to his proximity to his 'Inu-koi'.

Kagome had already taken a shower, who had woken up a lot earlier than usual, a miracle unto itself. She had taken Shippou and Rin in with her, so to get three people washed and ready more quickly (1). Rin and Shippou were currently sitting at the table and eating onigiri.

"Ne, where did Kagome-sama go?" asked Miroku, muffling a yawn.

"She's up on the roof," said Touran sleepily, pointing up at the ceiling.

InuYasha picked himself up from the floor, still covering his nose, and growled, "Ama…"

"What was that, InuYasha?" snapped Sango, and InuYasha became pale.

"Keh, I didn't say anything," he said, crossing his arms and putting on a tough-guy act.

"That's what I thought," said Sango, and began helping herself to some onigiri.

InuYasha looked at the door of the bathroom, and exchanged looks with Miroku. Though the former was first in line, Miroku looked like he wanted to cut ahead of everyone else.

The two teen boys stared at each other for a second, before both of them dashed towards the open bathroom door. Everyone watched as both of them made it to the door at the same time, but got stuck in the doorframe.

"Teme! It's _my_ turn for a shower!" yelled InuYasha, trying to pry himself out of the doorframe.

"Everyone knows you take all day! Some people would think you were a girl, since you take so long in the bathroom!" growled Miroku.

The boys ignored the cries of, "What did you just say?" from the female occupants of the room, and continued to fight over who would get into the bathroom.

Finally, InuYasha managed to free the arm that was pinned against the doorframe, and shoved Miroku back out of the bathroom with it. The houshi fell with his feet going over his head at the force of InuYasha's shove.

"Hah! Serves you right, you no-good line-cutter!" said InuYasha triumphantly, pointing at Miroku.

Miroku lay out flat on the floor and seemed to prefer it down there, since he made no move to get up.

"Ne, Inu-koi! May I take a shower with you?" called Jakotsu.

InuYasha turned beet-red and yelled, "Hell no!" before sliding the bathroom door shut behind him as fast as he could.

Sango snorted and continued to eat her onigiri. Jakotsu looked very put-down.

"Taku, the Third Exam is going to be over and done with before we all get a shower," sighed Touran, who looked around all the people waiting in line for a shower.

"We're better off going to the onsen to bathe, nee-chan," Shuuran said.

It was silent for a moment, and then a lightbulb appeared over Touran's head.

"You actually have a good idea for once, otouto!" said Touran, grabbing her brother by the shoulders and shaking him.

"Ano… Arigatou…?" said Shuuran, wondering if that was a compliment or an insult.

"Tsukikage-sama," began Touran – she was cut off when Touga corrected her, saying, "Touga-san" – "ano, _Touga-san_, we're going to head to the onsen!"

"We are?" said Shuuran.

"Baka! I'm not going to wait all day in order to bathe!" said Touran.

"Yoshi, you two go ahead and go," said Touga, nodding at the blue-haired woman.

"Hai!" said Touran cheerfully, bowing and then practically running to the door, so desperate was she to get clean.

She slid open the door, and raced out into the hall. Shuuran bowed to Touga, and then hurried after his sister.

"Chotto matte, nee-san!" they heard him yell.

Jakotsu looked at the still-open door and then at the closed bathroom. Rivers of tears came down his face as he tried to make his decision.

'_Inu-koi… But I want to have bath, too!_' he thought, trying to make up his mind.

"Eh, I think I'll go, too," he finally said mournfully, and shook Renkotsu awake.

"Nani…?" asked Renkotsu, blinking blearily as he woke (2).

"C'mon, we're going to the onsen," said Jakotsu cheerfully – he too seemed to be somewhat bipolar – and took Renkotsu by the upper arm, guiding his cousin to the door.

"Yoshi…" mumbled Renkotsu, dragging his feet lethargically as he was pulled out the shoji door.

"Ja ne, Touga-san!" said Jakotsu, waving at Touga and then sliding the shoji door shut behind him and Renkotsu.

"How can he be so cheerful in the morning…?" moaned Miroku, and Sesshoumaru, who was standing next to him, twitched an eyebrow in agreement.

-o-o-o-

Sitting crosslegged on the roof, Kagome surveyed Konoha in its morning glory. Granted, she was about to fall asleep, despite the morning chill, but she looked at it nonetheless.

Hearing familiar voices down below her, Kagome peeked over the roof and down into the street. She smirked when she saw several of her roommates from last night making their way out into the street.

"Couldn't wait for a shower, ka?" she said to herself.

She looked up at Konoha again and blinked to keep herself awake. In order to keep her mind occupied while waiting, she played various games with herself. For example, she tried counting the number of buildings that she could see, but she lost count after the first few hundred. Then she tried to count the number of birds that flew across the sky at various times, but that soon grew too boring.

Sighing, Kagome said, "Taku, I wish that it was time for the Third Exam already."

Looking down at her hand, she tried forming a snowflake in the air. It proved to be a lot difficult than forming other ice objects. In fact, she couldn't do it at all.

Gritting her teeth in frustration, Kagome hit her temple with her knuckles and said, "Chikushou! How come it only happens when I'm around _him_?"

At the thought of Gaara, Kagome clenched her jaw so tight that it hurt. She was still very angry with him from yesterday, and she wanted nothing more to kick his ass for her morning warm-up. But in response to the thought of him, she tucked her bangs away from the right side of her face. It wouldn't do for him to go psycho on her again, especially when she had to kick Kikyou's ass today.

'_Kikyou…_' thought Kagome with venom, '_I'll make you suffer for leading InuYasha on for so long…!_'

_***Flashback**__*_

_The janitor's closet was not the best of hiding places. Yet there Kagome squatted, hiding behind a cluttered rack near the door that smell strongly of cleaning fluids. Not only were her muscles cramping up from hiding there for half the day, but her nose was also being tortured by the smell of chemicals. Of course, a good shinobi would do nothing but endure it, and that was precisely what Kagome did._

_Kagome was hiding in the closet because she had ditched class, _again_. For some reason, the Tsukikage persisted in putting her in classes – when she didn't have missions, that is – to learn about the basics of shinobi training, although she knew perfectly well how to fight. And everyday, Kagome slipped out of class and hid out in one of the less-traveled places in the Academy. She used to hide out in the village, but since the Tsukikage had started posting ANBU around the Academy to prevent her from leaving the grounds, she had been forced to hide in the Academy itself. _

_Tensing and relaxing her muscles to ease their cramps, Kagome held her breath when she heard someone moving outside the door, maybe to get a drink from the water fountain. If they happened to come into the janitor's closet, they would not see her because of how full the rack was._

"_Kikyou-chan, guess what I heard?" asked a girl's voice._

"_Nani?" asked a second female voice, one that was familiar to Kagome._

_The girl hiding in the closet gritted her teeth with loathing. _Hanagami Kikyou_. Heir to the Hanagami clan, Kikyou was as stuck-up and spoiled as person could get. She was currently about to graduate from the Academy, though how _that _was possible, Kagome didn't know. The Hanagami heir seemed to suck at everything, and made a lousy kunoichi, in Kagome's opinion._

_Hanagami Kikyou was also one of the many people in the Academy that liked to sneer in Kagome's direction and say degrading things behind Kagome's back and also to her face. But Kikyou seemed to enjoy it more than others – despite the lack of response – and picked on Kagome every chance she got._

"_I know that someone in the lower grades likes you!" came the first girl's voice, presumably one of Kikyou's 'friends'; Kagome called them 'followers'._

_Kikyou scoffed and said, "I think pretty much every boy in the younger grades likes me, Kaori-chan."_

"_But I heard that Taishou InuYasha likes you! Iie, _worships_ you!" giggled Kaori._

_There was a pause._

_Finally, Kikyou said, "Sou desu ne?"_

"_Hai!"_

_Kikyou 'hmphed' and said, "That gaki has zero talent. The only reason that he's already on a team is because he's the Tsukikage's son. But it could be fun to…"_

"_Kikyou-chan, you're not going to…?" giggled Kaori nervously._

"_Kaori, when the chance to lead a boy on comes around, you take it! It's especially fun when you have to deal with losers like that Taishou gaki!" giggled Kikyou._

_Kaori giggled in response, and the two began to walk away. Once their voices had faded, Kagome growled dangerously. If Kikyou even tried anything, Kagome would claw her eyes out (3)._

_~A Week Later~ _

"_InuYasha, she's leading you on!" protested Kagome angrily._

_She and InuYasha were currently standing in the Taishou mansion garden. For the past week, Kikyou had been shamelessly flirting with InuYasha, and had acted so kind to him. The moment that Kikyou had shown up at the mansion the previous day to 'visit' InuYasha, Kagome had decided that she had had enough._

_So she had approached InuYasha and tried to explain to him what Kikyou was doing, but the older boy wouldn't have it. Instead, he had gotten angry because of the accusations over his crush. _

"_Urusei! Didn't I just tell you not to talk about Kikyou-san like that!" growled InuYasha. _

"_She's playing you like a harp, InuYasha! I heard her–" blurted Kagome angrily._

_With a yell, InuYasha threw a fist in Kagome's direction. The younger girl grabbed him around the wrist, flung him around so that his back was to her, and jerked his hand behind his back with a painful yank. InuYasha cried out in pain, but threw his weight to the side so that both of them fell to the ground._

_InuYasha's body fell heavily on top of Kagome's, knocking the wind from her. This caused her to drop his hand. Taking the advantage, InuYasha drew back his fist and punched Kagome in the stomach. Gritting her teeth, Kagome punched him the face._

"_Baka yarou! I'm trying to save you from getting hurt! She's gonna drop you like a–" yelled Kagome angrily._

_InuYasha hit her in the stomach again. Having had enough, Kagome pulled up her knee and jerked it hard into _his_ stomach. She heard the air whoosh from his lungs and saw his eyes water, but Kagome kneed him in the stomach until he rolled off of her, trying to breathe._

_Kagome stood, panting._

"_Don't you come crying to me when she starts to ignore you like she used to, bakamono!" she yelled, pointing at him._

_Then she ran from the garden, leaving him rolling in pain on the ground._

_***End Flashback**__*_

'_But it all came true, didn't it? She grew bored, and stopped paying attention to you, InuYasha. Yet you didn't believe me, even after that. You've continued to pine after her, after all this time,_' thought Kagome sadly.

She looked across the rooftops of Konoha, and saw that the sun was starting to rise. Standing up, Kagome clenched her fists at her sides.

Looking on with a determined face, she thought, '_You're _mine_ today, Kikyou!_'

-o-o-o-

Birds were chirping in the trees of the training grounds. The sun was just barely starting to come up, shedding light on the forest. In one of the nearby trees near a clearing, a various assortment of weapons – kunai, shurinken, and several other oddities – had been embedded into the bark.

Tenten stood panting near the edge of the clearing, hunched over from exhaustion. Her scrolls were strewn near her feet. Nearby, Hyuuga Neji stood with his back to her in the middle of the clearing.

"You don't even have a scratch on you," panted Tenten triumphantly, "You're good to go, Neji."

"I guess I will stop the light exercises here," said Neji, looking over his shoulder, "and get going."

-o-o-o-

Aburame Shino sat on a large boulder on the edge of one of the rivers running through the forest training grounds.

He looked down at his hand, which crawled with his kikaichuu (parasitic destruction insects).

-o-o-o-

The alarm in Naruto's apartment went off. Sitting up, the blonde-haired Genin switched it off.

Looking down, he thought dejectedly, '_I couldn't sleep because I was so nervous._'

An image of Hyuuga Neji appeared in his head, and he thought, '_First, I have to fight him in the first match._'

-o-o-o-

The sun was climbing higher in the sky. A crowd was gathering around the main gates of Konoha. They held their breath as the giant doors, painted with the hiragana 'a' and 'n', creaked open mournfully.

An entourage of oxen carrying a huge, Oriental litter came through the gate, attended by richly garbed men in kimonos.

The Hokage stood on top of building and watched the entourage take to the streets of Konoha, two of his own attendants standing patiently behind him.

"It is about to begin," said the Sandaime.

-o-o-o-

Naruto slowly trudged to his old training grounds, his hands clinging to the straps of his backpack. Three huge posts stuck out of the dirt, one of which Naruto had been tied to before, a courtesy of his sensei.

Looking up with surprise, Naruto saw Hinata standing by one of the posts, her back facing him.

Naruto stared at her for a second, and then said, "Hinata?"

Hinata cried out and zipped behind the post she had been standing beside.

"N-naruto-kun…!" she squeaked.

Naruto gave a sound of amusement.

"Why did you come here?" asked Hinata, looking at the ground, "Isn't today the main matches?"

Naruto sighed and said, "I, uh, you know. I just came to see this training area. Since this is where I became a Genin."

"Really?" said Hinata, "But why?"

Naruto spluttered and turned around, saying, "No reason! Who cares about the reason…"

"Sou da ne (yeah)…" said Hinata, "Gomen."

There was a moment of silence.

Finally, Naruto said, "Ne, Hinata? Neji is your relative, right?"

"U-un," said Hinata.

Naruto turned towards her seriously and asked, "Is he strong?"

Hinata looked down and closed her eyes, saying, "Un."

"Sou ka," said Naruto, lowering his eyes.

"But… You might be able to beat him, Naruto-kun," said Hinata, trying to cheer him.

Naruto laughed, putting his hand behind his head.

"Yeah!" he laughed, "I _am_ strong!"

He continued to laugh, trying to reassure himself. Then he fell silent, looking down at his feet. It was quiet for a couple of seconds.

Then Hinata said, pushing the ends of her forefingers together, "I'm sure you can beat him, Naruto-kun…"

Naruto looked up at her with a grunt of surprise.

"Eh, when you cheered me on, I felt like I had become stronger than before," said Hinata, stepping out from behind the post, "After the preliminaries, I was able to like myself a little more. If a stranger looked at me, it might seem like I haven't changed, but I think that I was able to change. And I think that it was thanks to you, Naruto-kun."

"Ne, Hinata? Do you really think that?" asked Naruto, gritting his teeth.

"Eh?" said Hinata.

"I may look strong from your point of view, but I always screw up, and I just act strong because I'm mad," said Naruto, looking down angrily.

"That's not true!" Hinata blurted out.

Naruto looked up with surprise.

"Even if you did make a mistake, you were always…from my point of view, a proud man that makes a lot of mistakes," said Hinata, causing Naruto's mouth to drop open.

"When I looked at you, there was this impact on my heart," continued Hinata, and began pushing her forefingers together again, "You're not perfect. You make mistakes, and you get stronger from them. I believe that is true strength. Naruto-kun, you're a strong person, I think."

Naruto took a step forward in his amazement at Hinata's speech, and Hinata slipped back behind the wooden post. Finally, Naruto grinned.

"Thank you, Hinata," he said gratefully.

Hinata looked at him with surprise.

"I've always been last place in everything," said Naruto, flexing his arm and putting his hand on his bicep, "I was nervous over nothing. I was a bit depressed, but I feel better now!"

"Naruto-kun…!" said Hinata, clasping her hands together in front of her.

"I'll be going off to the matches now!" said Naruto, waving at Hinata and walking off.

Hinata watched him go, and then saw him pause.

"Hinata…" said Naruto, turning his head to look back at her.

"Eh?" said Hinata, her pale eyes widening.

"I always thought of you as…" began Naruto, and Hinata said, "Eh? Eh?", blushing red.

"…A dark, timid, and weird person (4)," finished Naruto, and Hinata slumped dejectedly.

Naruto turned back around and started walking away again.

Fingering his hitai-ite, he said, "But you know something…?"

Hinata looked up.

"I like people like you!" Naruto finished.

Hinata blushed bright red, '…_like you…_' echoing in her head, and the wind blew through her hair.

Naruto paused and looked behind him, grinning and saying, "Oh, and be sure to come watch me beat Neji!"

He grunted in surprise when there was the sound of what sounded like cannon fire. Looking up at the sky, he saw large yellow fireworks go off.

Naruto gasped and said, "Crap! It's that time already?"

Taking off running, he called out, "I'm late! Late! See you later, Hinata!"

-o-o-o-

"Are we the only ones that are going to show up?" growled InuYasha, standing with his arms folded as he watched the spectators file into the stands.

There were three Oriental-style buildings above the stadium with sloping roofs. People were already getting into the stands, chattering excitedly. The middle one was the most ornate, and Kagome could just make out two large chairs sitting on its balcony.

"Don't be an idiot. You were the one that wanted to get here early," Kagome pointed out.

"Keh," said InuYasha, folding his arms and looking away; Kagome rolled her eyes.

"Well, well, well. Look who we have here," said a familiar feminine voice from behind them; Kagome's eyebrow immediately twitched with irritation.

The three of them turned to see Hanagami Kikyou striding smoothly towards them from the direction of the entrance of the stadium. InuYasha's cheeks flushed, causing Kagome to send him a dirty look.

Kikyou stopped in front of them and smirked.

"It's amazing that you three made it into the finals at all. Since you're the Dobe Team," she sneered.

Miroku put up a finger and said, "Actually, we prefer the Dobe Squad–"

"Urusei," said Kikyou, and Miroku quieted down.

"Let's see," she said, tapping her cheek thoughtfully, "a dobe that failed at everything thrown in his direction," she looked sharply at a sulking Miroku, "a dobe that slept through class," her gaze went to a glassy-eyed InuYasha, "and a dobe that never bothered to show up to class at all," she glanced at a fuming Kagome, "what a despicable lot you are."

Kagome forced her mouth to form a sweet smile.

Cocking her head, she asked, "Eat any chocolates lately, Kikyou-san?"

Kikyou made an 'urk!' in the back of her throat, and screwed up her mouth in distaste.

"That won't work on me again, street gaki," she scoffed.

Crossing her arms and smirking, Kagome asked, "What'd you do? Eat raw squirrel every day this past month?"

She had the pleasure of seeing Kikyou go a shade paler than her already porcelain-like skin.

"Don't be ridiculous!" snapped the older girl angrily.

Kagome shrugged and said nonchalantly, "Yeah, you're right. We wouldn't want Konoha's squirrel population to suffer their way through _your_ stomach, now would we?"

Kikyou's face reddened, and she said, "Why you–!"

"Ah, may I interject?" asked Miroku, holding up a finger timidly.

"Urusei!" said both of the girls.

As Kagome turned to face Miroku, Kikyou spotted the fan strapped to the younger girl's back. Her face settled into a satisfied smirk, having found something else to bully Kagome about.

"Really, is that the best you could do?" she said, closing her eyes contentedly.

"Nani?" said Kagome, turning to face Kikyou.

"You went out and bought a fan. What a waste. That flimsy thing isn't even a fan used in shinobi battles, and would be torn apart in seconds. Even if you could use it against me, you can't fight fire with fire. Or, in this case, wind with wind," sneered Kikyou.

Kagome scowled.

"Besides," continued Kikyou, "who's to say that you're even going to fight me?"

"Yes, who's to say?" said Kagome, looking like she was enjoying her own private joke; she was one of the few that knew that Dosu was dead.

Kikyou had to keep herself from flinching; that smile on her doppelganger's face and the fact that Kagome had just agreed with her made her nervous.

"But still, I wonder if it is possible to fight fire with fire. Care to test it? I won't hold it against you if you end up splattered all over the stadium," said Kagome, her smile widening.

"Is that a challenge, ama?" growled Kikyou, putting her face close to Kagome's.

"And if I it is?" asked Kagome suggestively, smirking.

Kikyou grabbed Kagome by the front of her shirt. Kagome did nothing, waiting for the advantage.

Kikyou leaned her face in close to Kagome's and said with quiet menace, "Look at you in your new clothes. Did daddy buy them for you?"

"It depends," said Kagome, grabbing Kikyou's wrist in a vice-like grip, "Did your daddy buy yours?"

Kikyou growled and opened her mouth to say another degrading remark, but was interrupted.

"Oi, save it for the matches," came a new voice, a male's.

Everyone looked up with surprise – InuYasha snapped out of Lala-Land – to look at the newcomer. He was presumably a Konoha Jounin, considering he was wearing the same type of uniform that they had seen on previous Jounin in the village. Kagome noticed that he was Kakashi's height (5). He wore his hitai-ite – which covered the top of his head – backwards, and had brown hair that reached down his neck. He also had brown eyes, and wasn't that bad looking, either. But everyone was looking at his mouth, since he had what appeared to be a senbon sticking out of the corner of his mouth like a toothpick.

"Who're you?" asked InuYasha rudely, earning him an elbow in the side from both Miroku and Kagome.

"Me? I'm the examiner for the Third Exam, Shiranui Genma," said the Jounin, his hands in his pockets.

"What happened to Gekkou Hayate-sensei?" asked Miroku politely.

"He is…indisposed. And that's all you need to know," said Genma, using his teeth to twirl the senbon in his mouth.

He looked at all their faces one by one. It seemed to Kagome that his brown eyes lingered on hers longer than the others, but maybe it was her imagination.

"Like I was saying, you should wait until the matches start before you start beating up on each other. Understand?" he asked.

Kagome's team and Kikyou nodded silently.

Genma nodded and said, "Good. Now, stand there and wait until the others arrive."

The Jounin turned and walked a little ways from them, appearing to survey the terrain around him, which was made up of dusty ground and stunted trees. Kikyou smirked and turned towards Kagome again.

"I'd love to stay and chat, but I am afraid that all of you are too simple to hold up your end of the conversation," she said, and then walked away from them.

Kagome watched the older girl stop and stand several yards from them. Once she was sure that Kikyou wasn't going to bother them again, she wheeled on InuYasha.

"What the hell was that?" she demanded angrily.

"Nan da?" asked InuYasha.

"'Who're you'?" asked Kagome in a gruff voice, trying to imitate InuYasha's deeper one.

"I just wanted to know who he was," stated InuYasha grumpily.

"Then ask so, nicely! And what was up with you making googly eyes at Kikyou? You were practically drooling over her!" yelled Kagome.

"Was not!" retaliated InuYasha, his cheeks turning pink.

"Oh, Kikyou-sama, can I do anything to help you?" said Kagome in a high-pitched voice, "Can I clean your sandals for you, Kikyou-sama? I'll even lick them for you, Kikyou-sama!"

"Urusei!" yelled InuYasha, swinging a fist at Kagome's head.

Kagome dodged it, and burst out laughing.

"I would give you the world, Kikyou-samaaa~!" said Kagome in a singsong voice, laughing from a safe distance.

"If you don't shut up, gaki, I swear I'll–!" growled InuYasha.

"What's that, Kikyou-sama?" asked Kagome, cocking and putting a hand to her ear, "Why, I'd love to have se–"

InuYasha turned bright red, dashed over to his adopted sibling, and clapped his hand over her mouth.

"Don't you dare finish that sentence!" he hissed.

'_Look at him, he's like a tomato!_' thought Kagome with glee.

Suddenly, InuYasha gave an exclamation of disgust and jerked his hand off of Kagome's face.

Wiping his hand, he said, "You _licked_ me!"

Rubbing his face, Miroku thought, '_They never stop, do they?_'

He blinked when he saw who was coming out of the entrance to the arena.

'_Uh-oh._'

He ran over to Kagome, who was laughing over having licked InuYasha's hand, and spun her around by her shoulders.

"Miroku, what are you–?" asked Kagome.

"Stop goofing around. They're here," Miroku whispered.

Kagome immediately became serious when she saw who had entered the stadium.

Gaara led his team into the arena, looking as emotionless as ever. Kankurou and Temari strode a little bit behind him on either side. Out of the corner of her eye, Kagome checked to make sure that the bangs on the right side of her face were firmly tucked into her hitai-ite, and nearly sighed in relief when she saw that they were still in place.

InuYasha seemed to understand the atmosphere and crossed his arms once again. He turned away, grunting to show that he was no longer interested in bashing Kagome's head in.

The Suna nin ignored the other competitors and stood in line with the rest of them. Kagome was glad of the fact that they left a little space between them and her own team. She was also glad that they ignored her and her teammates, but that was short-lived.

Gaara, who was nearest to Kagome, slowly slid his teal-green eyes in her direction. His eyes locked on hers, and Miroku made a strange noise in his throat. Trying to act as casually as possible, he went to stand on the other side of InuYasha, leaving Kagome on InuYasha's left.

'_Oh, thanks a lot,_' growled Kagome mentally, and she turned her head away from Gaara.

A bead of sweat trickled down the side of her face when she still felt him staring at her from her left. Deciding to ignore him, she turned to InuYasha.

"Ne, do you see tou-san and the others yet?" she asked.

InuYasha squinted along the stands and pointed.

"There."

Kagome leaned forward a little, and saw that he was right. Two bright spots of white – Touga and Sesshoumaru – shone among the spectators. She recognized other members of her country by the color and style of their clothing, or the color and style of their hair.

"Who do you think he'll bet to win?" Kagome asked.

"Heh, there's no doubt that oyaji (informal 'dad', or 'old man') will bet on _me_ winning," said InuYasha, smirking; Miroku sent him a glare.

'_He's so confident of himself. I hope Miroku breaks his nose during their match, because I won't heal it for him. Stuck-up teme,_' thought Kagome.

She turned slightly when she felt someone step up beside her. Glancing to her left, she saw a bored-looking Shikamaru standing slouched over with his hands in his pocket.

"Ohayou, Shikamaru-san," she greeted.

Shikamaru blinked in her direction and said monotonously, "Yo."

Then he turned away from her again. Kagome blinked in surprise and looked forward.

'_What's eating him?_' she wondered, confused by his aloofness.

Footsteps came from behind her and she saw that Aburame Shino had made his entrance. Kagome remained silent, considering the response that she had gotten from Shikamaru. But when Shino stopped next to Shikamaru, turned his head, and nodded in her direction, Kagome felt relieved. She nodded in response, and Shino faced forward.

'_Eto… The only ones left are Naruto-kun, that guy, and the _other _guy,_' thought Kagome, an image of Neji popping into her head, followed by Sasuke's.

Her eyebrow twitched at the thought of both of them, so in order to make herself feel less angry, she imagined herself drawing a mustache on their images in her mind. Then she added an eye patch on each boy for extra measure. A feeling of elation entered her and she took a deep breath, feeling better.

The feeling was short-lived, however, when she heard the crunch of footsteps behind her. And that person wasn't Naruto; they didn't have his aura. She felt Hyuuga Neji –who else could it be? – stare holes in the back of her head as he approached the line of Genin, but Kagome ignored him. She managed to not look at him as he got in line, and he continued to stare at her out of the corner of his pale eye.

Stuffing her hands into her pockets, Kagome stared at her feet. The bangs that she hadn't tucked into her hitai-ite moved over to where they covered her left eye.

'_Where are you…Naruto-kun?_' she thought.

-o-o-o-

'_So that's Higurashi Kagome,_' thought Genma, looking at Kagome thoughtfully.

Twirling his senbon in his mouth, he studied her from afar. She was currently standing inconspicuously in the line of Genin, her hands in her pockets while she studied her feet.

Genma had been expecting her to be an older girl, not around the same age as the rookie Genin participating this year in the Chuunin exam. However, if she was from the diminished Uchiha clan – the 'Long-Lost Uchiha' was her new nickname among the shinobi in Konoha now – then all that the Hokage had said that she had done wouldn't come as a surprise. The Uchiha clan was known for producing a genius – or more – every generation, after all.

'_Let's see what you can do, Higurashi,_' he thought, turning away and smirking.

-o-o-o-

InuYasha was getting fed up. Not because he had to wait for the final contestant to arrive – though that was bugging him, too – but because that redhead and the boy with pale eyes were staring at his little sister. It irked him to no end that the redhead hadn't even blinked, and that the Hyuuga – that _was_ his name, wasn't it? – had such an intense stare going that it cut like a diamond.

He didn't want any guys staring at Kagome. Although he'd rather eat one of those slugs from the Shi no Mori than admit it, he was fiercely protective of her, despite their quarrels. And Kagome hadn't even noticed the stares, it seemed. InuYasha had to be glad that she wasn't a flirt.

After a few minutes, InuYasha had had it. With a frustrated growl, he grabbed Kagome by her upper arm. Kagome looked up and yelped as he swung her to stand between him and Miroku, him taking her original position.

"What the hell was that for?" demanded Kagome, rubbing her abused upper arm.

"Keh," said InuYasha, folding his arms and looking away.

Kagome sighed with exasperation, deciding to put up with it. InuYasha snapped his head over towards Gaara and Neji so fast that he could have gotten whiplash. He narrowed his amber eyes in their direction. Gaara and Neji narrowed their eyes in response.

'_I dare you,_' his eyes seemed to say, his scowl deepening every second.

He felt triumphant when the two brats finally turned their gazes away from him and looked forward.

'_Hah! No guy will ever get his hands on Kagome, as long as I'm around!_' thought InuYasha, smirking.

-o-o-o-

Kagome rubbed her upper arm and shot InuYasha a dirty look.

'_What the hell is his problem? Grabbing me out of nowhere! Taku…_'

Sighing, she glanced behind her towards the entrance to the arena. Still no Naruto. As the minutes ticked by, she grew increasingly restless. She shuffled her feet, kicked at the dirt, and sighed.

InuYasha finally said, "Don't worry. Your little boyfriend will be here probably at the last minute."

"He's not my boyfriend!" Kagome hissed.

InuYasha grinned, saying, "He's a boy. And he's your friend. Therefore, he's your _boyfriend_."

Kagome growled in frustration, a fist clenched in front of her face.

"When this exam is all over, I'm going to kick your–" she began, and then felt a slight vibration under her feet.

Grunting in surprise, she turned towards the entrance of the stadium.

'_What is making the vibration? It feels like a stampede…_' she thought, as the vibration grew in size.

She searched out with her senses, looking for what was making the vibration in her feet. Her eyes widened when she recognized the oncoming aura, followed by a denser mass of auras.

'_Is he being chased by a mob?_' Kagome thought, sweatdropping.

"Nan desu ka?" asked Miroku, as Kagome continued to stare at the entrance to the arena.

Running a hand through her hair, Kagome chuckled and said, "So, he decided to make a grand entrance instead…"

A second later, Naruto came flying out of the entrance, skidding against the dirt on his belly, and came to a halt in front of Shikamaru. The spectators in the stands gasped, and everyone in the arena turned to see what was going on.

"What kind of entrance was that?" asked Shikamaru.

Kagome walked over to stand in front of Naruto, whose eyes were all confused.

"Need a hand, Naruto-kun?" she asked, smirking and holding out a hand for him to take.

Because of the angle of the sun, Kagome's form was silhouetted. Naruto blinked up at her, and all he saw was a dark form standing over him with luminous blue eyes.

"A tenshi (angel)…" he croaked, trying to push himself up.

"Eh?" said Kagome, squatting down next to him.

"Did you hit your head as you fell, Naruto-kun?" she asked, poking him in the middle of his hitai-ite, pouting all the while.

"Oh! Kagome-chan! For a second, I thought you were something else!" gasped Naruto.

Kagome grabbed him by the hand and hauled him up with ease. He grunted in pain, but suddenly broke away from her, looking panicked.

"Minna, run!" he cried, "The entire village's bulls… The bulls are going to go after everyone!"

"That's what was chasing you…?" asked Kagome, sweatdropping again.

"Un! There were so many of them, I thought they would run me over and trample me to death!" said Naruto, clenching his fists in front of him and stamping his feet as he spoke to Kagome.

Naruto looked at the line of Genin in front of him. Everyone but Gaara was looking at him. But there was someone missing…

"Are? Sasuke wa (where's Sasuke)?" he asked, looking around in confusion.

Kagome shrugged, and Shikamaru approached them from the line.

"If you're looking for Sasuke, you're wasting your time. That Oto nin, Dosu, isn't here either," he said, stopping in front of Kagome and Naruto.

Naruto looked back at Kagome and exclaimed, pointing.

"What's the matter?" asked Kagome.

"You got new clothes! And where'd you get that scar?" he asked, pointing at Kagome's face.

Kagome's face reddened with embarrassment, while Naruto slammed his fist into his palm, saying, "Whoever did it, I'll pummel him!"

"Daijoubu, Naruto-kun," said Kagome, waving her hand at him, "I've had this scar for years. Besides, the man that gave it to me is dead."

"Oh."

"Hora, you three," said Genma, and they, including Shikamaru, looked at him (6).

"Stop walking around. Stand up straight and show your faces to the crowd," continued Genma.

Naruto gave a grunt of surprise and looked up at the three stand-buildings in wonder. The crowd erupted into applause. Then he lowered his head slightly and grunted in anticipation.

"You guys are the main players in the upcoming tournament," said Genma.

-o-o-o-

"Sasuke is still missing?" asked Sarutobi to the guard standing next to him.

"Several ANBU teams are searching for him, but he is nowhere to be found…" said the guard, and cupped his hand around the Hokage's ear, "Orochimaru may have gotten him already. If that is the case, it will be impossible to find him."

The Hokage nodded his head and closed his eyes, saying, "Wakatta."

Hearing the sound of approaching footsteps, the Hokage looked to his left, his guard resuming his usual position.

He gave an exclamation and said, "Look who we have here…"

A man dressed in the same type of clothes as the Sandaime – except that they were blue instead of red – approached, followed by two guards wearing tan cloaks. The newcomer had the majority of his face covered, and his kasa had the kanji 'Kaze' on it, instead of 'Hi'. He had creepy eyes.

"…Kazekage-dono!"

The Kazekage took the remaining chair next to the Hokage while his guards flanked him on either side, unaware that Gaara was glaring at him hatefully from the ground. The looks on Temari and Kankurou's faces weren't very friendly, either.

"You must be tired from the long trip," said Sarutobi, smirking.

"Iie," said the Kazekage, "I am glad that the stage is in Konoha. Although you are still young, visiting another village will be a bit tough on you, Hokage-sama. Perhaps you should choose a Godaime (Fifth) soon."

The Hokage's guard glared at the Kazekage out of the corner of his eye.

"Hm?" said Sarutobi, and burst out in hearty laughter.

"Don't treat me like an old man, now," he said, smiling, "I'm still considering doing this for another five years."

Getting up out of the chair and walking forward towards the edge of the balcony, he missed the Kazekage's piercing, but creepy, gaze.

"Then," said Sarutobi, looking towards the Kazekage, "let's begin this."

Straightening his shoulders and taking a deep breath, he began to speak in a loud, booming voice.

"Minna-sama (ladies and gentlemen), thank you for coming to Konohagakure's Chuunin Selection Exam today. We will now begin the main matches with the eleven that have passed the preliminaries. Please enjoy the matches," he finished.

There was an eruption of applause.

"If there are supposed to be eleven, it seems that one is missing," commented the Kazekage.

The Hokage gave an almost inaudible grunt.

-o-o-o-

"There are some things that I need to tell you before the matches," said Genma, reaching inside his Jounin vest and taking out a piece of paper.

"Look at this," he said, holding it up.

It showed tournament branch about who went against whom in the tournament. Naruto and Shikamaru gave grunts of surprise, but Temari remained silent when she saw the changes on the slip of paper.

"There was a change in the match-ups," said Genma, "Check to see who you're going against again."

'_I had more matches than the others last time I looked,_' thought Shikamaru, scanning the list, '_Did that Dosu guy retire?_'

Looking at the list, Kagome's lips slowly curled into an evil smirk when she saw the 'Hanagami Kikyou vs. Higurashi Kagome'.

"Heh," she said, lowering her head a little and closing her eyes.

When she opened them again, they were bloodthirsty.

'_Uh-oh… Kagome-sama is showing her_ other _side… The one that comes out when she's serious about battling…_' thought Miroku, eyeing her out of the corner of his eye.

'_This isn't good! If Kikyou goes up against Kagome, she'll–!_' thought InuYasha, afraid for his crush.

'_So I _am _going against that shrimp, after all. Time I showed her a thing or two about being a _real_ kunoichi,_' thought Kikyou, unaware of the impending doom that had been placed on her.

"Ano sa! Ano sa!" said Naruto, raising his hand.

"Nan da?" said Genma, putting the piece of paper back in his vest.

"Sasuke hasn't arrived yet," said Naruto, putting a hand on the back of his head and turning around, "What are we going to do?"

"If he doesn't come here by the time his match starts, he will lose by default," said Genma, flipping his senbon upwards by clenching his teeth.

Naruto grunted in surprise and looked behind him with suspicion.

'_This is weird. Knowing him, he would come even if he had to drag his body here,_' he thought, rubbing his chin with puzzlement.

Gaara glared at nothing, remembering when he gone up to spy on Sasuke and Kakashi during their training the previous day. His hand twitched with the urge to cause bloodshed.

-o-o-o-

Up in the stands, Baki watched Gaara with dawning horror.

'_Did he…_' thought the Suna Jounin, narrowing his eyes, '_I told him to avoid anything that would stand out… Did he kill that Uchiha Sasuke gaki, too?_'

He continued to watch Gaara, who had his head lowered. His eyes and his face were bloodthirsty, and he smirked with evil glee.

-o-o-o-

'_What is with him? Did he do something that caused that Uchiha bastard to be late?_' thought Kagome, looking at Gaara out of the corner of her eye.

Realization hit her, and she thought, '_Did he…_kill_ him? I know that that Sasuke gaki deserves it, but still…_'

Trying to ignore the killing intent coming from Gaara, Kagome turned to Naruto – who was still puzzling over why Sasuke wasn't at the tournament – and smiled.

"Don't worry, Naruto-kun. I'm sure that your teammate is just late because his head is so swelled from his oversized ego. With a head that big, he's bound to be a little slow," she said reassuringly, and Miroku gave a cough that sounded suspiciously like it was covering a laugh.

Sending Kagome a warning look, Genma said, "Listen up. Although the landscape is different, the same rules apply in the preliminaries; there are no rules. The match will only end when someone dies or gives up. But if I decide that the match is over, I will stop the match. Do not argue with me over it. Got it?"

Everyone looked at him with anticipation, ready for anything.

"The first match is Uzumaki Naruto and Hyuuga Neji. The rest of you need to go to the waiting room," said Genma, and Gaara's team turned to go up the stairs leading to waiting room's balcony.

Kagome grabbed Naruto by the shoulder and whispered in his ear, "Good luck, Naruto-kun. Wipe the floor with his ass."

Naruto swallowed and nodded. Kagome patted him once on the shoulder and ran to catch up with her companions.

-o-o-o-

"Oi, Hinata, here are some open seats," said Kiba, turning to look up at his female teammate.

He was dressed casually – just like Hinata – without his furry-hooded coat. Instead, he wore a regular hoodie with the hood down, exposing his shaggy brown hair.

Hinata walked down the steps to him and said, "Un."

Once they had taken their seats, Kiba said, "I can't wait to see this."

'_Naruto-kun…_' thought Hinata, a fist clenched near her breast.

-o-o-o-

"Ne, Sakura," said Ino, turning to Sakura.

The two girls were sitting next to each other in the stands.

"Un?" said Sakura, not looking up.

"I understand that you're worried about Sasuke-kun, but why don't you cheer on Naruto a bit?"

Sakura looked up, smiled, and said, "Sou ne (you're right)."

"But then again, he has no chance since he's up against Neji," said Ino.

"That's not–" began Sakura.

"True?" interrupted Ino, "Are you sure?"

Sakura looked down, and then faced forward again, her brow furrowed.

-o-o-o-

"To think that gaki actually made it this far," said Hagane Kotetsu smugly, his arms crossed.

"Un," agreed Kamizuki Izumo, who was sitting next to him, "But someone who made it this far with luck alone won't get any further. That Naruto kid, that is."

Hinata, who was sitting next to Kotetsu, glanced down his way and made a sound in the back of her throat.

"He has a bad opponent," said Kotetsu, "He can't beat a person from the Hyuuga clan."

Hinata looked like she was about to cry.

Kiba, however, was smirking their way.

'_That's what I thought at first,_' he thought, '_but you'll be surprised if you underestimate him, gentlemen._'

Suddenly, Akamaru – who was sitting on Kiba's left shoulder – made a sound of distress.

"Akamaru, what's wrong?" asked Kiba, turning to his ninken.

Akamaru whimpered what was troubling him to his human partner.

"What did you say?" said Kiba, furrowing his brow.

Looking around, he said, "Where?"

Narrowing his eyes and looking behind him, he said, "There he is!"

An ANBU, cloaked in black with the traditional mask on, was standing way in the back behind the seats full of people.

'_Why are the ANBU here?_' thought Kiba with suspicion, '_Did something happen?_'

-o-o-o-

Naruto and Neji walked out to the middle of the arena and faced each other. For a couple of seconds, they stared at each other; actually, Naruto glared.

"You look like you want to say something," said Neji confidently, silently mocking Naruto.

Naruto didn't say anything; instead, he lifted up his fist and stuck it out as if he were trying to punch Neji from far away.

Neji was silent, and continued to stare at Naruto.

"I told you before," said Naruto, glaring at Neji hatefully, "I will win!"

-o-o-o-

"Naruto-kun is going to pound that teme into the dirt!" said Kagome gleefully, slamming her fist into her palm.

"Why doesn't she like this guy again?" asked InuYasha, scratching his head in confusion.

Miroku sighed and said, "You missed that part. It's too long to go into now."

Kagome started to chuckle to herself evilly, rubbing her hands together eagerly.

"Yameru. Will you stop acting wei–" started InuYasha, and then grunted in surprise when he saw that Gaara was watching Kagome out of the corner of his eye, _again_.

'_Taku, this guy doesn't take a hint, does he!_' thought InuYasha, grabbing Kagome by her upper arm again.

"Wah! What are you–!" said Kagome, as InuYasha swung her around to place her between him and Miroku once again.

InuYasha exhaled angrily through his nose as he let go of Kagome's arm.

"What the hell is the matter with you today?" demanded Kagome, shaking her fist at him.

-o-o-o-

In a tree near the stadium, Kabuto was walking up to the body of the ANBU member he had just killed.

Squatting down next to the dead ninja, he removed the ANBU mask with a clink of cooked clay.

Smirking and looking towards the roaring stadium, he said, "Entertain me, Naruto-kun. I have tough job ahead of me. Orochimaru-sama has given me a new mission at the last moment."

-o-o-o-

"You dropout," scoffed Neji, turning and walking away.

He stopped when he heard Naruto say, "Don't run away…"

Neji turned to see Naruto standing up painfully, holding the spot where Neji had punched him.

"I'm not running away. I'm not going to take back my words. That's my nindou," said Naruto, holding his side and panting.

Neji chuckled and said, "I've heard that somewhere."

"I won't lose to a guy like you… A guy that blames everything on fate and other crap!" said Naruto, glaring at Neji.

"You know nothing. Don't lecture me. People are born carrying an unchangeable fate. To carry a seal that can never be removed. A guy like you will never understand what it means!" shouted Neji, pointing at Naruto.

Naruto stood with his eyes squeezed shut, remembering how he had been shunned as a young child, just because he had the Kyuubi sealed inside him. It hurt to remember…

-o-o-o-

"Baka yarou," said Kagome quietly, watching what was unfolding down below her.

"Eh? Who?" asked Miroku.

"The Hyuuga. He's so self-centered, it is he that knows nothing," said Kagome calmly, closing her eyes.

But when Miroku glanced down at her hands, he saw that they were clenched into fists and were shaking from anger.

-o-o-o-

"No…" said Naruto, looking at Neji, "I understand."

Neji narrowed his eyes at Naruto.

"So what about it?" asked Naruto, smirking.

The veins around Neji's Byakugan eyes popped out more as he thought, '_This guy…!_'

"Heh. Stop acting cool," said Naruto, "You're not the only special guy here. Hinata…was suffering like you. She is from the head family, but she tried her best to change herself because no one would acknowledge her. That's the determination she had, and she fought you even after she was injured. That goes for you, as well. The branch family is supposed to protect the head family, yet you did that to Hinata when it was only an exam. You were trying hard to fight against fate, weren't you!"

-o-o-o-

Neji walked over to the unconscious Naruto lying in the hole that Kyuubi and Neji's chakra had made, panting heavily.

"Dropout boy, wari, but this is reality. This is truly the end–" he said, but then a crunching noise came from below.

Gasping and looking down, Neji had just enough time to see Naruto's fist coming up out of the ground. Then he felt the fist hit his jaw as Naruto's entire body jumped out of the ground, the blonde-haired boy yelling.

Blood flew out of Neji's mouth as he flew upwards and over. Naruto landed on his feet, while Neji sprawled flat on his back. Naruto stood panting, blood dripping from his cracked and broken fingernails.

"My body…" Neji gasped.

The Naruto lying in the hole disappeared in a puff of smoke, revealing a smaller hole that Naruto must have dug to get under the ground.

'_He left a Kage Bunshin in the hole, and dug his way to victory,_' thought Genma appreciatively, '_Although beaten, he believed in victory, and kept thinking of a next move. The power to believe in yourself. That will become the power to change fate. He knows that, and he knows it instinctively._'

Naruto walked up to Neji, who was still lying spread-eagled on the ground.

"You made a Kage Bunshin in that situation?" asked Neji, "Your favorite Ninjutsu, ka? I was careless."

Naruto was silent, and then said, "I've failed three times in the Academy Finals."

Neji grunted softly in surprise.

"Unluckily," continued Naruto, "the Ninjutsu that was given in the Finals was always the Ninjutsu that I hated the most."

Neji's eyes widened, while Genma watched silently.

"The Bunshin no Jutsu was the Ninjutsu I sucked at," finished Naruto.

Neji narrowed his eyes again, gritting his teeth angrily.

"Stop complaining about fate and saying how it can't be changed. You're different from me. You aren't a dropout," said Naruto sullenly.

Neji lifted his eyes to the sky, watching a bird that had taken off from the stadium.

Genma grinned and said, lifting his hand up, "Winner, Uzumaki Naruto!"

-o-o-o-

Up on the balcony, the Kazekage chuckled.

"The crowd is noisy," he commented.

"That was a nice battle," said the Hokage.

"Yes. That, too, but the next match is something the head-shinobi and daimyou are highly anticipating," said the Kazekage, looking at the Hokage out of the corner of his eye.

The Hokage looked back out at the stadium.

"By the way," continued the Kazekage, "I did not see him at the opening ceremony, but he is already here, correct?"

"Un…" said the Hokage, and then turned when his guard came over to whisper to him.

"We still have not located Sasuke," whispered the guard in the Hokage's ear, "And there's the Orochimaru thing. Perhaps we should disqualify him before everyone causes an uproar."

The Kazekage watched this out of the corner of his eye.

-o-o-o-

Naruto, Shikamaru, Shino, and Kagome were all standing next to each other by the balcony of the waiting room. Naruto had his head on top of his arms as he watched the arena below. His ribs really hurt, since Kagome had hugged him really hard when he had come back to the waiting room, thanking him for beating up Neji.

They were listening to the people yelling that they wanted the next match to commence, which happened to be Sasuke and Gaara's match.

"What's that guy doing?" muttered Shikamaru, "Is he planning to not come?"

"A wise man keeps away from danger. He made a good decision," said Shino quietly.

Naruto looked over at Gaara, narrowed his eyes, and said, "What are you talking about? He'll definitely come."

Then he glared at Gaara, who glared back. Shikamaru looked back and forth between Gaara with confusion.

"Ne, Naruto-kun! Don't worry yourself over your teammate!" said Kagome, putting her hand on Naruto's shoulder, "A guy with his ego can't _not_ show up."

Naruto looked at her and said, "Heh, heh. You're right."

Then he looked down and thought, furrowing his brow, '_Where are you, Sasuke?_'

-o-o-o-

The Hokage's guard spoke to Genma, who nodded and said, "Wakatta."

After that, the guard made a hand seal and disappeared in a puff of smoke, going back up to resume his position beside the Sandaime.

Turning towards the yelling spectators, Genma said, "Minna-sama, an examinee for the next match has not arrived just yet. Therefore, this match will be delayed, and we will begin the next match first."

Naruto sighed with relief and said, "That was close."

Shikamaru gripped the railing of the waiting room balcony and said, "O-oi! Does that mean my match is coming up faster?"

Genma looked up at the Genin in the waiting room and said, "Next match up, Kazetani Miroku and Taishou InuYasha. Come down."

Kagome turned towards her fellow teammates, smirking and waving while saying, "Now play nice, children!"

InuYasha and Miroku looked at each other and groaned.

"Why do I have to fight him…?" groaned Miroku.

"Why did they say _your_ name first?" whined InuYasha, miffed at the announcement.

Miroku looked around and ran over to Kagome. He made sure that InuYasha wasn't peeking by hunching over his body, and pulled out an ofuda covered in calligraphy.

"Kagome-sama! Did I get this right?" asked Miroku, sounding desperate as he showed it to his female teammate.

Kagome glanced at it with confusion and said, "Yeah, why?"

Miroku sighed in relief and said, "Nothing."

"Will you hurry up, Miroku? I'm going to be an old man before we start this match, unless you get your butt over here!" said InuYasha, who was standing by the door of the waiting room.

Miroku groaned again and followed his teammate out the door.

"Kazetani Miroku… Now _that_ guy I like," said Shikamaru lazily, earning him weird looks from Naruto and Kagome.

-o-o-o-

"So, how're we going to fight this? You with your Kazaana and me desperately trying to get out of the way? Or would you rather fight with hand knives first?" asked InuYasha, rubbing the back of his neck.

"We're not training, InuYasha," said Miroku bluntly.

"I know! I know! It's just weird that I have to fight _you_, instead of someone from another country. Taku, this is going to be a boring fight," said InuYasha, sighing heavily.

"I wouldn't say that, InuYasha. I've learned a couple of new tricks," said Miroku, smirking and reaching into his kunai pouch.

"Eh?" said InuYasha with confusion; smirking was a very un-Mirokulike expression.

Miroku pulled out the ofuda that he had shown Kagome, and then unsheathed the katana, the one that Sesshoumaru had given him, from its saya.

"Nani? You're going to fight me with that little thing? Against Tetsusaiga, that thing will get snapped in half like a twig!" laughed InuYasha, patting the hilt of his own katana affectionately.

"Like I said, InuYasha, I have learned a couple of new tricks," said Miroku, his eyes lighting up blue with reiki.

His whole hand glowed with reiki, and that reiki crept into the ofuda until all of the calligraphy was the same blue as Miroku's eyes. Then Miroku slapped the ofuda onto the blade of his katana – where it promptly stuck – and his whole sword glowed with blue light.

"What are you–?" asked InuYasha, stepping back and gaping as Miroku's katana changed shape.

The whole blade of Miroku's katana grew larger until it nearly matched InuYasha's Tetsusaiga, as size went. The hilt had also modified itself to be able to support the weight of the blade.

Miroku looked up at InuYasha, his eyes still glowing. More reiki came from his hand, and slowly went along the length of the blade, protecting it from damage and giving it a sharper edge. InuYasha gritted his teeth when Miroku smirked at him triumphantly.

"Keh! If that's the way you want to play!" he said, unsheathing Tetsusaiga, which transformed as it came out of its saya.

"Let's do this!" he said, giving a smirk to match Miroku's.

-o-o-o-

"Oh, Miroku, you're such an usotsuki (liar)," sighed Kagome.

"Eh?" said Naruto, looking curiously at her.

"'I don't have as much reiki as you have!'" said Kagome in a high voice, waving her hands around for emphasis.

When she saw Naruto's confused look, she smiled and asked, "Do you know about 'reiki', Naruto-kun?"

"Eh…" said Naruto, scratching his head and furrowing his brow.

"Iie? Well, it's spiritual energy," explained Kagome.

"Spiritual energy? Isn't that used to make chakra?" asked Naruto.

Kagome nodded and said, "Un. But some people, like Miroku and I, can use the raw component of reiki, instead of just chakra, which is a mixture of reiki and physical energy. Reiki is used especially for healing, not fighting. And Miroku once said that he didn't have very much of it."

"Sou ka?"

"But look down there!" said Kagome, jabbing her finger downwards and pouting, "He actually has enough that it's visible when it comes out of his pores! That's a decent amount, if you ask me!"

"Sooo…" said Naruto, rubbing the back of his head, "Reiki makes your eyes glow when you use it?"

"Only if you use a lot of it," said Kagome.

"Ano sa! Ano sa!" said Naruto, jumping up and down next to her.

"Nan desu ka?" asked Kagome.

"Can you make your eyes glow too, Kagome-chan?" asked Naruto excitedly.

"Un," said Kagome, nodding.

"Can you show me?"

Kagome smiled apologetically at Naruto and said, "Wari na, Naruto-kun, but I might need my reiki during my match, ne?"

Naruto pouted and said, "Oh, right."

"But if I don't show it during my match, then I'll show you after the Finals are over, okay?" she said.

Naruto immediately perked up and said, "Un!"

"You have way too much energy," sighed Shikamaru, his shoulders slouching even more.

-o-o-o-

"Kazaana!" shouted Miroku, holding out his hand and opening the hole in his hand.

InuYasha's eyes widened and he narrowly dodged the vacuum that was coming out of Miroku's palm (7).

As he leapt through the air to avoid getting sucked up, he stuck his hand into his shuriken holster, which contained the Saimyoushou hive. Taking it out, he tapped on it.

Buzzing came from inside, and the hive vibrated. InuYasha dodged away from Miroku – who was still chasing after him with the Kazaana – and saw five Saimyoushou come out of the hive.

Making a hand gesture towards Miroku, he shouted, "Iku (go)!"

The Saimyoushou flew at Miroku, unknowingly going to their deaths. Miroku's eyes widened when he saw the Saimyoushou; he knew what they were, though he hadn't seen them before.

He struggled to close his Kazaana before he sucked them up, but it was too late. All five Saimyoushou were sucked in, poisoning him in the process. Miroku gave a yell of pain, closing his Kazaana and falling to his knees. He stared at his hand, his fingers forming into claws from the pain. His breath came out in little hisses between his teeth, since he was gritting his teeth in agony.

InuYasha stared at him, wide-eyed.

Looking down at the Saimyoushou hive in his hand, he said, "Sugee… That poison must be powerful stuff…"

-o-o-o-

"Ehhh? What were those bug things?" asked Naruto, leaning over the side of the railing.

"Saimyoushou," said Kagome.

"Sai…myou…shou…?" repeated Naruto, blinking at her.

"Un. They are giant wasps that are used for summoning, and they were once used in the Kumonosu clan. Now the Taishou clan uses them," said Kagome.

"Taku, that Kazetani guy looks like he's in pain," said Shikamaru, raising an eyebrow.

"The Saimyoushou carry a painful poison within them, which is released when they are sucked up into a Kazaana like Miroku's. He should be in agony by now," explained Kagome.

Naruto and Shikamaru grimaced.

"Will…will it kill him?" asked Naruto.

"If he sucks up enough of them. Right now, all the antidote will do is alleviate the pain, since the poison isn't in life-threatening levels."

Naruto made a face and said, "I wouldn't want to be stung by _those_ icky bugs! Or any other icky bugs!"

"Naruto-kun…" said Kagome, with her eyes closed and an eyebrow twitching.

"Eh?" said Naruto, looking at her with confusion.

"…_Shino-san is standing right there_," said Kagome, her eyebrow still twitching.

Naruto and Shikamaru – who had been listening in – quickly looked over at Shino, their faces in scared grimaces. It was hard to tell what Shino was thinking, since his eyes were covered with his sunglasses.

"G-gomen ne, Shino! I don't think _your_ bugs are icky at all! In fact, I think they're rather…kawaii…?" said Naruto, saying the first description that popped into his head; he instantly regretted it, since it sounded girly.

Gaara actually slowly turned his head in Naruto's direction when he heard what had just come out of Naruto's mouth.

"Kawaii…?" repeated Shino softly, turning his head slightly to look at Naruto.

Naruto instantly knew he had to follow through with what he said.

"U-un! I think that they're kawaii because they're so…small (8)! And they're…" faltered Naruto, unable to think of anything positive to say.

Sighing, Kagome grabbed Naruto around the neck with her arm so that his head was tucked under her armpit. Naruto cried out as Kagome ruffled his hair, making it even messier than before.

"Gomen nasai, Shino-san. Naruto-kun didn't mean it," said Kagome, looking at Shino out of the corner of her eye; she was still ruffling the hair of a protesting Naruto.

Shino nodded at her and looked back out at the fight. Kagome instantly let go of Naruto, who rubbed his hand over his hair to flatten it. He grumbled, looking up at the bangs hanging over his hitai-ite.

"What did you do that for?" he grumbled, and then looked over at Kagome's hair.

A mischievous grin spread across his face, and his hand shot out to mess up Kagome's hair. Kagome saw him coming and grabbed his wrist, holding up his arm above their heads.

"Oi! What are you doing?" she asked, as Naruto struggled to reach Kagome's hair.

"To do what you did to me!" said Naruto, gritting his teeth as he tried to force his hand nearer to her hair.

"My hair's messy enough!" said Kagome, frowning as she held him around the wrist.

"Well, so is mine!" said Naruto, making straining noises as his hand came nearer to Kagome's hair.

Several of the Genin looked over to see Kagome and Naruto straining, Kagome trying to not have her hair touched, and Naruto trying to mess her hair up. Kikyou rolled her eyes.

Shikamaru sighed and said, "How troublesome…"

-o-o-o-

InuYasha stood panting heavily, leaning on the untransformed Tetsusaiga for support. He looked down at Miroku, who was lying unconscious on the ground in front of him, his katana still in his hand. The houshi had a huge gash on the left side of his body, courtesy of Tetsusaiga's Kaze no Kizu. It was because of the slashing wave that that move had produced that Miroku was now unconscious.

"For a guy that doesn't like to battle, you sure put up a fight," panted InuYasha, walking over and squatting next to Miroku's body.

He grunted in surprise when he felt a warm wetness brush against the tip of his toes. Looking down, he saw that blood was starting to pool around Miroku's body. InuYasha stared.

'_Kuso, it must have hit him more than I thought!_' he realized, clenched his fists.

Standing, he shouted, "Oi! My teammate needs help, you dumb medics! Where are you?"

Several medic-nin rushed out of one of the various entrances to the stadium, carrying a stretcher.

"Coming, sir!" they shouted.

InuYasha looked back down at Miroku, his bangs covering his eyes. He sheathed Tetsusaiga without a word. Genma, who had been watching to see if Miroku would get up, walked over. He took one glance at Miroku and nodded.

Raising his hand, Genma said, "Winner, Taishou InuYasha!"

The crowd erupted into a roar of applause, but InuYasha heard none of it. He stared down at the blood on his toes, his fists clenched at his sides. His Saimyoushou – there were four left from his last summoning of them – came over and landed on his hair; some of it had come out of his samurai-style ponytail. They chewed on InuYasha's silver-white tresses, trying to comfort him.

"Sumimasen," said one of the medics, as the whole group of medic-nin arrived and began bustling around Miroku's body.

InuYasha took a step back to give them some room. All he did was listen to what they were saying.

"Put some pressure there!"

"He's been poisoned. We should get an antidote ready!"

"Oi…" said InuYasha quietly.

"Hai?" said one of the medic-nin, looking at him.

"I have the antidote. Here…" said InuYasha hoarsely, rummaging in his shuriken holster and then producing a small vial full of a yellowish liquid.

The medic-nin grunted in surprise, and then took the vial, nodding his thanks.

"Careful now! We don't want him to bleed more!"

InuYasha watched the medic-nin load Miroku onto the stretcher, staring at Miroku's pale face from under his bangs. Then they began carting Miroku away from him, heading towards the entrance that they had come out of.

"O-oi!" said InuYasha loudly, causing them to pause.

"Hai?" said the medic-nin that InuYasha had given the antidote to.

Pointing at Miroku, InuYasha said, "When I see him next, he better be in one piece! Otherwise, I won't have anyone to beat up during my training!"

All of the medic-nin looked at his stubborn face and smiled.

"Don't worry, sir. We'll give him the best possible treatment available," assured the 'antidote-medic'.

"You'd better," muttered InuYasha, crossing his arms and looking off to the side with a scowl on his face.

The medic-nin rushed out of the arena, leaving InuYasha in the dust. The silver-haired Genin was staring at the bloody outline of Miroku's body. He swallowed thickly, his throat making a croaking noise.

"Well," said InuYasha, looking up at the Saimyoushou peering down at him and smiling a little, "let's go, ladies."

-o-o-o-

Kagome was angry, since InuYasha had decided to go up to Touga and the others to sit. She was standing with her arms crossed, a scowl on her face and her hair sticking up in every which direction. Naruto kept shooting glances at her and snickered every time he did. Making a frustrated noise, Kagome began trying to get her hair back to normal.

"Next match, Kankurou and Aburame Shino," said Genma, looking up at the waiting Genin participants.

Kankurou winced and thought, '_My match isn't important! Besides, I don't want to show Karasu's hidden weapons before the plan._'

He looked over at Temari, who nodded grimly at him.

Looking down at Genma, he called, "Examiner! I'm giving up!"

Naruto and Shikamaru gave exclamations of surprise, while Kagome and Shino frowned at the kabuki-faced Genin.

'_Nani?_' thought Genma, frowning as well.

"I'm giving up!" repeated Kankurou, "Go to the next match."

Genma slouched with frustration and said, "Kankurou has given up, therefore Aburame Shino wins by default."

The crowd began to protest again, eager to get to Sasuke's match.

"Damn it," said Temari with irritation, and grabbed her fan out of her red obi.

She swung it open with a huge blast of air, making the others cover their faces. Temari rode her fan down to the ground, her chakra creating wind for her to glide on. She landed near Genma, and folded up her fan.

"You are?" asked Genma.

"It's my turn, right?" asked Temari, smiling at him.

"Looks like you want to do this," said Genma, "Yoshi, we're going to start the next match."

He looked up at Shikamaru and said, "Oi! The other one! Get down here!"

Shikamaru looked down at his opponent and said, "Oi, oi, why are you guys getting excited? Actually, why do I have to be the one who gets his match-ups changed so frequently?"

"Nara Shikamaru," said Genma, "it's you."

'_Kuso, I should just copy the other guy and give up…_' thought Shikamaru.

"I think he needs a little encouragement, don't you think, Naruto-kun?" asked Kagome, smirking at the hesitant Shikamaru.

Naruto nodded and ran over to Shikamaru, slapping him on the back, yelling, "Yoshi! Go get her, Shikamaru!"

With that, he shoved Shikamaru – whose arms had been windmilling around to prevent himself from falling – over the railing and down to the ground. Shikamaru yelled all the way down, landing ungracefully on his back. Temari shut the eye nearest to him to prevent the dust he conjured up from getting into it.

As the dust cleared, Shikamaru thought, '_Naruto yarou (damn Naruto)…_'

Kagome peered over the railing and said, "Did you kill him? He's not moving, or maybe that's just him being lazy."

Naruto said nothing, but continued to smile encouragingly over the railing at Shikamaru. The crowd, however, was not happy. Many people were starting to throw trash at Shikamaru's still body. Shikamaru took it all, continuing to glare up at Naruto's smiling face.

'_They're still looking forward to Sasuke's match, and now they have to put up with some no-name's match… So now they're like, "What the hell! Get out of here!" There's no point in fighting in this match when no one expects anything from it,_' thought Shikamaru with boredom.

Temari was having none of it.

She slammed the end of her folded-up fan to the ground and said, smirking, "Nani? You're going to give up as well?"

Shikamaru rolled his head up to look up at her and thought, '_Another onna?_'

Naruto was stomping from foot to foot, his fists clenched in front of him.

"What is he doing? Hora, Shikamaru! Stop fooling around!" he yelled down at the lazy Genin.

"Taku, that's got to be the laziest guy I've ever met. _And_ I know InuYasha," said Kagome, frowning down at Shikamaru.

Fed up, Temari narrowed her eyes and said, with quite a bit of anger, "If you're not going to attack, I will!"

She began to run towards Shikamaru, making Genma say, "Oi, we haven't begun the match yet!"

Shikamaru groaned with exasperation and said, taking out two kunai, "She seems really excited about this."

Temari jumped up into the air, bringing her fan down on Shikamaru's body. There was an explosion of dust, making Naruto gasp and Shino grunt in surprise.

As soon as the dust cleared, Temari saw that she hadn't hit anything. Looking up with surprise, she saw that Shikamaru had embedded his kunai into the wall, giving him something to stand on out of the way while Temari attacked.

"I don't care if I can't become a Chuunin… But an otoko can't lose to an onna–" he said, but was interrupted by a shout below him.

"Oi! I've killed men with more motivation than you, you lazy-ass ninja!" shouted Kagome, leaning over the edge of the balcony and shaking her fist down at him.

"Eh… S-sou ka, Kagome-chan…?" said Naruto nervously, but Kagome was still shaking her fist at Shikamaru angrily.

Temari and Shikamaru stared up at Kagome, and Temari smirked at Kagome's attitude.

Rolling his eyes and sighing, Shikamaru said, "Maa, I guess I'll fight," causing Temari to direct her attention back at him.

With a yell, Temari unfolded her fan and sent a huge gust of wind at the wall. There was another explosion of dust, but when it cleared, the kunai were embedded in the wall with no Shikamaru in sight. Temari grunted in surprise.

Looking behind her at a certain tree and smirking, she thought, '_This guy's quick at running away._'

Shikamaru, who was hiding behind the tree that Temari was looking at, watched her carefully.

'_But then again,_' he thought, '_an otoko can't really hit an onna. I don't want to get hit, either._'

-o-o-o-

"Shikamaru! Beat her up with your sixteen-hit combo!" shouted Ino, making punching and kicking maneuvers in the air in front of her.

She froze when she heard the familiar rustling of a potato chip bag next to her.

"Can I sit next to you?" came Chouji's voice.

Ino gave a sound of surprise and said, "Nani? Your stomach is okay already?"

"Un…" said Chouji, placing his bag full of snack food next to Ino before he sat down.

-o-o-o-

Using his Kagemane no Jutsu, Shikamaru began to force Temari to walk forward as he began approaching the middle of the arena.

Temari gritted her teeth as she neared Shikamaru, thinking, '_My body is moving on its own… I can't control it!_'

Shikamaru raised his hand, causing Temari to raise her own. Temari tried to fight it, her hand and arm trembling in the air. She squeezed her eyes shut as she tried to fight the control over her body, her teeth gritted and protesting sounds coming out of her mouth.

Shikamaru opened his eyes and looked up. When he opened his mouth to speak, the last words everyone expected to hear came out.

"I lose. I give up," he said.

Temari gasped. Everyone else gaped in shock and disbelief, except Kagome, who was hiding a smile beneath her hand.

"Did he…get bored?" wondered Kagome aloud, her voice somewhat strained; she sounded like she was trying not to laugh.

Someone in the crowd shouted, "Nani?", and everyone in the stands began to yell and ask what the hell was the matter with the lazy-ass ninja standing down in the stadium. Kagome was still trying not to laugh.

"What did you say?" asked Temari, wondering if she should be angry or relieved.

Genma almost looked disgusted as he eyed the scene before him, a sweatdrop on his cheek.

"I used up too much chakra using the Kagemane too many times. I can only hold you for an additional ten seconds. So, I've thought about two hundred possible moves, but time's up," said Shikamaru, lowering his arm and Temari's along with it.

Temari stared at him like he was nuts.

Putting out his hands off to the sides with the palms up, he made a bored face and said, "It's too troublesome to do more. One match is good enough for me."

Genma still had his 'disgusted face' on, but then he smiled and thought, '_What a weird guy._'

"Winner, Temari," he called.

-o-o-o-

'_Uchiha Sasuke still isn't here yet. Looks like we'll have to continue with this last match,_' thought Genma, listening to the protesting crowd.

"We will now begin the last match before the second round of the Finals. Next match, Hanagami Kikyou and Higurashi Kagome. Get down here," said Genma, looking up at the waiting Genin.

"Good luck, Kagome-chan!" said Naruto (who had come back up after yelling at Shikamaru), and Kagome nodded.

Gripping the railing under her hand, she used it to fling herself over the edge of the balcony. Naruto and Shikamaru gasped and gaped after her as she fell to the ground. Kikyou merely sniffed and made her way to the doorway, whereupon she began descending down to the arena the long way.

Landing lightly on her feet in a kneeling position, Kagome listened to the crowd.

"Nani? We have to go through _another _match?"

"We want the Uchiha!"

"Give us Uchiha Sasuke, kuso!"

Kagome smirked, letting chakra bleed into her eyes.

'_I'll give you something to shout about…_' she thought, slowly raising her head.

Standing up, she looked around the stadium with narrowed eyes. Sticking her hands into her pockets and sighing, she made her way over to Genma, keeping her eyes on the crowd.

The noise that the crowd was making died down very quickly. Even from the height that they were sitting, everyone could see the brilliant red of Kagome's eyes.

"Is that…an Uchiha?"

"Impossible…"

"Keh," said Kagome, coming to halt a little ways away from Genma.

She looked out of the corner of her eye at the Jounin examiner, and saw that he was doing the same. Kagome sighed and closed her eyes.

"I thought they were all dead…"

"Apparently not…"

Growling under her breath, Kagome removed her right hand from her pocket and rubbed the back of her head out of irritation. Unbeknownst to her, that made her look even more like an Uchiha, her hair sticking up in spikes.

Thirty seconds ticked by, and Kagome was growing impatient. She looked at the entrance to the waiting room with growing annoyance.

Finally, Kagome cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted, "Oi, Kikyou! I'm not getting any younger here!"

A couple seconds later, Kikyou stepped out into the sunlight, scowling at Kagome.

As Kikyou approached, Kagome muttered, "About time you got out here."

Kikyou sent Kagome a nasty look but said nothing.

-o-o-o-

"What's this? Have you been hiding an Uchiha from everyone, Hokage-sama?" said the Kazekage, a hint of humor in his voice.

"Iie, she came to us on her own, without knowing of her heritage," said the Hokage, not sparing the other leader a glance.

"Sou ka? Has your own Uchiha been made aware of her? Such a famous clan should not be left in shambles…" said the Kazekage, leaving what he was thinking unsaid.

"I believe that is entirely up to them," said the Hokage gruffly, feeling disgusted.

-o-o-o-

"Oi, oi, there's that girl that saw through our disguise," said Kamizuki Izumo, leaning forward.

"Higurashi Kagome… Looks like the rumors were true. She really does have the Sharingan," said Hagane Kotetsu, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

"'The Long-Lost Uchiha'… She lives up to her nickname," said Izumo, smirking.

"Maa, we'll have to see if she lives up to the name 'Uchiha', instead," said Kotetsu, giving his own smirk.

-o-o-o-

Kikyou and Kagome stared at each other for a couple of seconds.

Kikyou smirked and said, "It's about time I got to kick your ass. I'll show you the power of a true shinobi–"

She gasped as kunai flew past both of her cheeks, thin scratches appearing in their wake. As droplets of blood rolled down her cheeks, she stared at Kagome. The younger girl was glaring at her hatefully, her Sharingan active in her eyes. Because of this, the spectators were still murmuring loudly amongst themselves.

Kikyou nearly took a step back at the force of Kagome's glare.

'_This girl… She's like a demon!_' she thought, swallowing.

Suddenly, Kagome was running at Kikyou, a kunai in each hand. Kikyou barely had any time to take out her own and block. There was the screech of steel as Kagome and Kikyou grated their kunai on each other's.

With a clang, they broke apart. Kikyou gritted her teeth as she skidded backwards against the dirt. She was still trying to recover from the ferocity of Kagome's first attack. Taking a deep breath, she held a kunai in front of her face, watching Kagome carefully.

They walked around in a circle, watching each other for an opening. Kagome spotted several in Kikyou's defense, but wanted to see what the other girl would do. She remembered what Sesshoumaru had told her when he began teaching her to fight like this.

'_Using kunai like hand knives… An art form passed down through the generations in Tsuki no Kuni, it is used to show physical prowess in agility and strength…_'

Smirking, Kagome thought wryly, '_Well, at the least, I can cut her clothes off. InuYasha will probably have a nosebleed if I do._'

Mistaking Kagome's smirk, Kikyou grew angry.

"Are you laughing at me?" she hissed coldly.

In answer, Kagome broke their circling of each other – not unlike a couple of vultures – and attacked. Kikyou automatically brought up her kunai in defense. Kagome's kunai grated against Kikyou's kunai, and then removed one to slash at Kikyou's stomach.

Kikyou flipped backwards and landed on one hand before righting herself on her feet. She took this time to retaliate, running at Kagome with her kunai at the ready.

The sound of kunai clashing echoed around the stadium as the two girls fought with their hand knives. They dodged and whirled around each other, appearing to be involved in some kind of intricate dance that they only knew the steps to. Members of the audience leaned forward in their seats, awed by this performance.

'_She's fast,_' thought Kagome, dodging a swipe from Kikyou, '_but not fast enough!_'

Suddenly, the younger girl disappeared and Kikyou felt one of the loops of hair near her ears cut in half. Surprised, Kikyou watched out of the corner of her eye as some of her hair floated to the ground.

Wheeling on Kagome, who was behind her, she said, "Ama! You cut my hair!"

She clashed kunai with Kagome again with surprising ferocity. Anger fueling her actions, she managed to aim a couple of slashes toward Kagome's stomach and face.

'_I wonder what would happen if I cut _all _of her hair off,_' thought Kagome, enjoying that Kikyou was being so serious.

Air whistled as Kikyou slashed another kunai at Kagome's face. Flipping backwards, Kagome decided that it was time to step it up a notch.

Taking both kunai into one hand, Kagome landed on the other hand, twisted with one leg out, and kicked Kikyou right in the jaw as the other girl approached. Kagome flipped back up, and Kikyou had to throw out a hand in order to do the same.

Inwardly laughing with evil glee about what she was about to do, Kagome dashed towards the Hanagami heir. Kikyou brought her kunai up to block Kagome's, but Kagome's kunai suddenly changed position at the last minute. Kikyou's eyes widened with disbelief as the _other_ loop of hair near her ear fell to the ground.

Rage building, she turned and ran towards Kagome with a yell. As Kikyou's kunai stabbed towards her, Kagome knocked one hand out of the way and grabbed the other arm around the wrist. She pulled Kikyou up and over her head, and the girl flew in the air several feet before landing on her back like a stranded turtle.

Gasping for air, Kikyou lay in the dirt. Her hands scrabbled in the dirt as she tried to get her breath back.

"Is that it? I would have thought that the Hanagami heir would have put up a bigger fight," said Kagome.

"This fight isn't over!" snarled Kikyou, jumping back on her feet, whipping out one of her fans and sending several blades of wind Kagome's way.

Kagome stood where she was, knowing that most of the blades would miss her; they had been poorly aimed. The whooshing of air ruffled her ebony tresses; one of the blades came close enough to cut the sleeve of her happi, but not close enough to physically harm her.

She saw Kikyou's face contort with anger, and the tomoe in Kagome's Sharingan began spinning when Kikyou drew back her fan. As quick as lightning, Kagome tugged off the fan tied on her back, shielded it with her reiki, and swung her fan the same time Kikyou did, sending the same type of attack as the other.

Two huge explosions of wind flew towards each other and collided, making a 'crack!' of air that made the ground shake and everyone's eardrums hurt. Not only was there a huge sound, but the wind also leveled up tons of dirt and other debris, obscuring the two fighting opponents from each other and from the audience.

The spectators gasped in awe or appreciation as the two opponents – who were covered in cuts and gashes from the explosion of debris – jumped high out of the cover of clouds, sending blades of wind at each other. By the time they had landed on the ground again, the dust had mostly dispersed and the visibility was good enough to fight in.

The two girls continued to send blades of wind at each other, none of which had any effect; they were dodged easily. Kagome was growing bored; Kikyou had had enough.

Kikyou got into a fighting position, noticing a kunai sticking out of the dirt near her foot. Had that been there before? She dismissed the kunai as a leftover from one of the previous fights, and focused her attention on Kagome.

"I told you; you can't fight fire with fire! Let me show you what happens when you do!" she called, making Kagome narrow her red eyes.

Kikyou swung her fan, sending one huge wave of wind, and then snapped it shut, sending a second, but larger, wave of wind. She smirked when she saw Kagome do the same.

'_Perfect,_' she thought; the trap was set.

Kagome duplicated Kikyou's move, sending both of her waves of wind towards the others. She expected them to collide like the other times before; she felt her heart lurch when they didn't. Instead, Kikyou's waves of wind redirected Kagome's back towards her; she now had _four_ huge waves of wind coming for her.

Seeing what was about to happen to her, Kagome jumped to the side to avoid getting torn in half. But not quick enough.

One of the waves of wind clipped her on the left shoulder, cutting her down to the bone. Gritting her teeth, Kagome prevented herself from crying out, and grabbed her shoulder.

The waves of wind dissipated into nothing. Seeing Kagome's dilemma, Kikyou smirked.

"Got you," she said smugly, snapping open her fan and holding it in front of her face.

As blood blossomed on her happi, turning it purple, Kagome lifted her eyes up to look directly into Kikyou's eyes. The older girl flinched at the murderous look in Kagome's red eyes.

To put it simply, Kagome was _pissed_. She was mostly mad at herself for not going down on Kikyou hard enough; she had fueled the girl's arrogance, instead. Well, it was no more Mr. Nice Guy for Kagome.

Kikyou blinked in surprise when Kagome jerked off her happi and dumped it onto the ground. Even from where Kikyou was, she could tell that the wound that she had inflicted was not minor; she found it surprising that the girl was able to stand, what with the tremendous pain.

Red tendrils of blood snaked down Kagome's bare arm, staining the bandages she had wrapped around her forearm. She stuffed her fan down into her obi securely. Kikyou grew confused when she saw the girl take out her two kunai again.

"Didn't we do this already?" she asked with boredom, fanning herself.

She quickly changed her tune, however, when Kagome gave a yell and ran towards her with one of her kunai raised. Gasping, she flung a blade of wind at the younger girl, but Kagome simply dodged it and kept coming. Kikyou had to abandon her fan to the bosom of her china dress and take out her own kunai.

Yelling, Kagome used her kunai to cut the sleeve of Kikyou's china dress. Kikyou stood in shock from the pain and at how fast Kagome moved. Whirling around, she tried to locate Kagome, but she felt another cut, this time on her leg.

Kikyou realized now that she felt exactly like Kumonosu Kagura had when she had fought Higurashi Kagome in the end of their match. There was no way to pinpoint where the girl was coming from, no way to block her. Every direction she came from was unexpected, and whenever Kikyou turned to see where she was, she had gone, the girl was attacking from another vantage point.

Hearing a noise behind her, Kikyou turned and stabbed downwards with her kunai blindly. She was surprised when it made contact. Kagome clenched her teeth but made no noise when the kunai drove through her uninjured shoulder. For a second, the two girls stared at each other; Kagome glared at Kikyou with hate, and Kikyou stared down at Kagome in shock.

Blood dripped on both sides of Kagome's shoulder. The kunai's endpoint barely stabbed through the other side of it, but it was enough to make her bleed a substantial amount.

Kikyou, who still had her hand on the handle of the kunai, let it go suddenly and stumbled backwards, looking pale. Kagome looked at the kunai protruding from her shoulder and grabbed the handle of it with her own hand. With a sharp yank and a spurt of blood, she tugged it out of her shoulder. Looking at the kunai distastefully, she tossed it aside.

The Hanagami heir put a hand up to her mouth as she stared at Kagome's wound. Her breath came out in shaky gasps as she found herself looking at shattered bone, fresh bone marrow, and lots of blood. But what scared her was that the wound was starting to heal up, and that Kagome hadn't reacted to the pain at all.

"W-what are you…?" gasped Kikyou, taking a step back, and then another.

Kagome didn't answer, but merely narrowed her eyes.

"What are you?" said Kikyou, her voice rising to a hysterical level; Kagome winced as Kikyou's voice pierced her eardrum.

"A-are you some kind of bakemono (monster)?" cried Kikyou, take a couple of steps back in an effort to put some space between her and Kagome.

Kagome lowered her head and smirked.

"A bakemono, ka?" she said, testing the familiar term.

She gave a humorless laugh, smirking all the while.

Suddenly, she fixed Kikyou with a serious stare and said, "Bakemono. Bakemono. Do you know how many times I've heard that word in my lifetime? It actually gets annoying, hearing it all the time."

Then she tilted her head and said, smirking sadistically, "Do you want to know why they call me a 'bakemono'?"

Then she chuckled darkly and closed her eyes. Kikyou tensed, getting ready to spring on Kagome, when all of the sudden, pale-blue chakra began flickering around Kagome's body.

"Eh?" said Kikyou, taking another step back.

Then there was a huge burst of chakra around Kagome's body, forming flickering tails high into the air above Kagome's body. There were seven of them, indicating that Kawarubi had seven tails today, and they twisted around Kagome's body just like Naruto's had. The crowd murmured, having already seen a spectacle like this once today.

Kagome's eyes flicked open suddenly, and they were no longer red, but they weren't their usual sapphire-blue, either. Kikyou stared at the other's ice-blue eyes with thin pupils, realization dawning on her as she watched the pale-blue chakra condense around Kagome's body.

Kagome examined her nails, which were quickly forming into claws. She grinned at Kikyou, showing off large canine teeth. The iridescent tips of her hair seemed to glow in the sunlight.

"Heh. I've forgotten how lively I am in this form," said Kagome, looking at Kikyou like a predator would at its prey, "It makes me want to taste…blood."

Kikyou's face turned the color of sour milk. Her smirk widening, Kagome suddenly dove towards Kikyou, and punched the other girl hard in the stomach. Saliva flew from Kikyou's mouth. Gasping as her wind left her, she was flung into the air by the force of the punch. She landed several feet away, clutching her stomach.

"Ehhh? What's the matter? Did I _hurt_ you?" asked Kagome mockingly, crossing her arms and smirking at the other girl (9).

"Ama…" growled Kikyou, pushing herself up while clutching her stomach with one hand.

Then, using a spurt of speed that momentarily surprised the other girl, she jumped up and whipped out both of her fans, whereupon she sent two huge blades of wind towards Kagome.

Dodging the blades, Kagome said, "So you're getting serious now, are you? You didn't have both of your fans out before."

Unfolding her fans and getting into her fighting pose, Kikyou said venomously, "I knew that there was something wrong with you, but this…! Bakemono like you should be wiped from existence!"

Kagome growled low in her throat, not because she was angry, but because Naruto was watching this match.

"Sou desu ne? What are you going to do about it?" she asked, crouching down into her own fighting pose.

"I thought that I made it clear. I'm going to wipe you from existence!" said Kikyou, and then flung her fans outward with an angry cry.

Staring at what Kikyou had conjured up, Kagome thought, '_Okay, I might have underestimated her a _teensy_ bit._'

Two huge twisters stormed towards Kagome, raising up dust and rubble in their wake. Kagome immediately saw that the tornadoes were just like the blades of wind that had cut her shoulder; they could easily slice her to pieces with a touch.

"Try and avoid these, bakemono!" called Kikyou, an evil smirk on her face.

Just as the tornadoes were about to hit Kagome, she promptly vanished and appeared to the side of them. Her heart jumped into her throat when the tornadoes made a complete ninety-degree-angle turn, coming at her again.

'_Nani?_'

Kagome took off running, trying to keep ahead of the tornadoes. She could hear them behind her, sounding like they were drilling through a wall of rock. She could also hear them whipping through the air like the propellers of an ocean liner (10). No matter where Kagome ran, they followed without hesitation. And they seemed to be gaining speed.

'_Chikushou! I can't shake them!_' she thought, '_I'm not going to be able to outrun them!_'

Jumping out of the way again, Kagome saw that the tornadoes weren't going to stop their pursuit of her. How Kikyou had managed to get wind to act like this was beyond her.

'_I'm going to have to waste some of my chakra… Kuso!_' thought Kagome, turning around abruptly and facing the oncoming tornadoes.

'_What is she going to do?_' thought Kikyou, narrowing her eyes.

'_Uma, Tora, Hitsuji, Saru, I, Uma, Tora!_' thought Kagome, making the appropriate hand seals, '_Let's see how you fare against this jutsu I copied a while back!_'

Taking a deep breath, Kagome began gathering chakra in her chest at a rapid rate. Then she made a ring with her thumb and index finger on her right hand, where she blew a giant fireball through. The fireball was so big that it knocked out one of the tornadoes entirely, and caused the other to dissipate when the fireball knocked a large chunk of it. The crowd gasped and there was scattered clapping here and there because the fireball was one of biggest they'd ever seen.

Kagome stood panting and thought, '_I'm going to have to borrow more from you than I thought, Kawarubi._'

Just as the fireball left the tornadoes and continued on its way, Kagome barely had enough time to glimpse what was coming out of the trail of smoke before it hit her. A huge wall of wind knocked her clean off her feet and kept pushing her backwards until she felt her back collide with the side of the stadium.

Kagome could have sworn she actually heard her ribs crack. Just like Kikyou before, her breath left her in a hurry. She slid down the wall a little, leaving a trail of blood from her stabbed-through shoulder. Blood leaked from one of the corners of her mouth.

Opening her eyes, she saw double for a few seconds before she blinked it away. Groaning almost inaudibly, she saw Kikyou approaching rapidly. Looking off to the side of the stadium, she was surprised to see Kakashi and Sasuke had appeared in an explosion of air and a whirl of leaves.

'_About time you got here. We're just cheap entertainment compared to you, you Uchiha bastard,_' thought Kagome angrily.

Kagome tried to push herself away from the wall hurriedly, but Kikyou soon had a kunai to her throat. Kagome stared down at the kunai, and then glared hatefully towards her rival, her chest heaving.

"Well," said Kikyou, smirking, "what will I do with you now?"

-o-o-o-

Kakashi often found that things didn't go the way he planned. For example, today he had been expecting to make a grand entrance into the Final Exam stadium. However, when he and Sasuke got there, wind was flying everywhere, and the crowd's attention was strictly focused on the fight that was going on. He suspected that they hadn't even noticed the appearance of the long-awaited-for Uchiha.

'_So much for that…_' thought Kakashi, sighing.

"Oi, Kakashi. You two might want to get over here," called Genma calmly from the very edge of the stadium, so close that he was leaning against the wall.

Kakashi nodded at Sasuke, who followed closely behind him as they quickly made their way towards the other Jounin. Kakashi made his way to Genma's side.

Chuckling, Genma turned to face Kakashi and said, "You nearly got yourself killed out there. This match has been really up-tempo."

Kakashi grunted in surprise and said, "Nan de? Who's–"

He gave another grunt of surprise when he saw who was currently pinned against the wall of the stadium.

Genma nodded and said, "Un. Higurashi Kagome and Hanagami Kikyou. They've been doing their best to scratch each other's eyes out, or maybe tear each other's hearts out; I don't know which. What I do know is that they've been using strong jutsu to try and tear each other to pieces."

"For example," he continued, "Higurashi performed Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu (Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique) just before you showed up, in order to dispel a couple of tornadoes Hanagami conjured up. Biggest damn fireball I've ever seen from that jutsu."

Genma jerked his thumb towards one of the walls of the stadium. Kakashi and Sasuke turned their heads to look. Kakashi sweatdropped when he saw the large, shallow and smoking crater in the wall. Sasuke made a sound in the back of his throat, anger flooding into him.

'_That's the coming-of-age jutsu of the Uchiha clan! When did she learn that…!_' he thought.

"Now," said Genma, rubbing his chin thoughtfully, "I wonder what Higurashi's going to do, pinned up to the wall like that?"

-o-o-o-

Kagome was at a loss about what to do. She hadn't planned that Kikyou would back her into a corner like this. All she could think of was to stare Kikyou down, and the other girl seemed to know this.

Her eyes flickering towards the arena over Kikyou's shoulder, she checked to make sure that her trap was still there. She nearly smiled with relief when she saw that it was; the tornadoes or the other wind jutsu hadn't touched it.

'_Maybe I can get myself out of this yet,_' she thought, formulating a plan frantically.

"I've finally got you where I want you, Higurashi Kagome," said Kikyou triumphantly, drawing Kagome's attention back to her predicament.

Kagome glared.

"Now what will I do with you? Slit your throat?" said Kikyou, pressing the kunai deeper in Kagome's neck, causing Kagome to press harder against the wall in order to avoid it.

"Or maybe I could stab you in the stomach, and have you bleed out slowly? Which do you think?" continued Kikyou.

Kagome narrowed her eyes and scrunched up her mouth angrily.

"I think…" she said slowly and carefully, making Kikyou pause, "that you're a spoiled brat that desperately wants to be loved by daddy."

Kagome inwardly smirked when she saw Kikyou's eye twitch.

"What do you know?" demanded Kikyou, digging the kunai deeper into Kagome's neck.

"Did I hit a nerve?" asked Kagome slyly, despite the fact that her throat was dangerously close to being slit.

"You know nothing, you little nobody!" hissed Kikyou, leaning her face closer to Kagome's.

Kagome closed her eyes and mock-sighed.

"I guess it really can't be helped. At least my daddy loves me," she said, with pretend defeat in her voice.

"Urusei!" shouted Kikyou, swinging her free palm out to slap Kagome in the face.

Kagome took this chance to knee Kikyou in the stomach. As the other girl doubled over with pain, she grabbed Kikyou around the wrist of the hand that was about to hit her. Kikyou gasped, but before she knew it, Kagome had her own hands around both of the other girl's wrists. Kagome ignored the sting of the kunai as it bit into her skin before being pulled away from her neck, leaving a thin cut that bled bright-red, little droplets of blood. She used both of Kikyou's arms to swing the other girl around to where her back was facing Kagome.

Kagome twisted the arm with the kunai in an unnatural way, and had the satisfaction of hearing the 'snap!' of the bone breaking. She could see the one of the jagged ends of the bone poke up through the surface of the skin.

Kikyou gave a howl of pain at the feeling of her arm break, and dropped the kunai that she was holding. Kagome swung Kikyou around again, using the same broken arm, provoking another cry of pain. Using the momentum of Kikyou's body coming towards her, Kagome increased the pain she caused as she punched Kikyou in the stomach.

Spittle flew from Kikyou's mouth again, her eyes widening as all of her wind left her. Her body collapsed around Kagome's fist as she fell forward, but that soon changed as Kagome did the same maneuver that she had performed at the beginning of their match.

Kagome fell backwards, twisted on one hand again, stuck her leg out, and kicked Kikyou right in the chest. Too crippled with pain to react, Kikyou found herself flying through the air. The audience watched with amazement as Kikyou's body flew all the way across the stadium, and then bounced several times before lying still.

Smirking, Kagome thought, '_Perfect._'

With lightning-fast speed, she was there several feet from Kikyou.

To everyone's confusion, she opened her mouth and said, "NOW!"

Three other copies of Kagome suddenly popped into existence, all four Kagomes standing on the cardinal points of the compass. Bewilderment swept through the audience. Where had the Kage Bunshin come from?

'_When there was that big explosion of dust from our wind jutsu, I made some Kage Bunshin, and they disguised themselves as kunai on the ground. Kikyou hadn't even given them a thought,_' mused Kagome.

Kagome and her Kage Bunshin began making a long line of hand seals (ending with 'Tora'), all of them done within a matter of a few seconds. Reiki mixed with chakra, all of the Kagomes concentrating fiercely to get the right mixture.

Kikyou, who had appeared to be unconscious, suddenly moved. She rolled over onto her back, gasping painfully while she tried to reach for her kunai pouch with her injured arm. She used her other arm to try and prop herself up.

'_Too late,_' thought Kagome.

All of the Kagomes looked up from making their hand seals, inhaled some air deeply, and said, "Katon: Kindaiyou (Fire Release: Golden Sun)!"

All of the Kagomes exhaled a huge bout of flame, which rapidly turned bright gold in color. The flames grew higher and higher, getting more unstable by the minute.

When the flames began to spread outward and act erratically, Kagome thought, '_Time to go!_'

"Yoshi!" said all of the Kagomes, whipping out their fans.

Using gusts of wind, they began shaping the blaze of flames into a huge pillar surrounding Kikyou's body. Kikyou watched helplessly, unable to do anything but accept what was about to happen to her.

Jumping into the air, Kagome and her Bunshin went in circles around the pillar of golden fire, trying to keep a decent leash on it. The pillar grew higher and higher, and in doing so, contracted even more on the inside. The space keeping Kikyou safe from the wall of flame was growing smaller by the second.

Cuts appeared on Kagome's skin whenever she got close to the pillar of flame, which was often. She ignored the sharp little stabs of pain and concentrated on narrowing the pillar interior even further. She soon realized that the jutsu had achieved its purpose when a piercing scream of pain came from inside of the pillar.

Kagome smirked.

-o-o-o-

InuYasha jumped up in his seat, yelling, "_Kikyou!_"

"Sit down!" said Touga, pulling his son back down by yanking on his shirt.

"What's wrong with you! The gaki's _killing_ her!" said InuYasha shrilly, his voice cracking with emotion.

"She won't kill her. That would be putting Hanagami out of her misery," stated Sesshoumaru monotonously, not looking at his brother.

"Why would she want her to suffer?" asked InuYasha, his eyes looking at Sesshoumaru frantically.

"You poor fool," said Sesshoumaru, looking directly at InuYasha, "You really have no idea, do you?"

"Nani?" said InuYasha, gritting his teeth angrily.

"Kagome is doing this…for _you_."

-o-o-o-

"Genma!" said Kakashi urgently, looking at his colleague.

Hanagami's screaming hadn't been going on for very long, but it was grating on everyone's ears. Listening to someone being tortured was never very fun. Kakashi looked down at Sasuke, whose wide eyes were glued onto the horrifying spectacle in front of him.

"Genma! Stop this!" repeated Kakashi again.

Genma merely twirled the senbon in his mouth and said, "Too late. It's over."

-o-o-o-

Once Kikyou's screaming had gotten onto Kagome's every last nerve, she decided that it was time to end what she had started. The older girl was probably lacerated and torn up beyond belief, but luckily for her pretty face, they were shallow cuts. All they did was hurt like the devil, since the pillar forced a mixture of reiki and chakra into the wounds.

Jumping into the air and flinging another gust of wind with her fan, Kagome whistled loudly over the loud noise of the pillar of golden flames. According to plan, four more Kage Bunshin transformed back into human form from their previous kunai form.

These new Kage Bunshin quickly performed three hand seals – Hitsuji, Uma, Tori – and four huge tornadoes made out of water formed around them, using moisture from the air despite the hot day. One of the Bunshin signaled to Kagome, who nodded and broke away from the pillar of fire, her previous Bunshin disappearing in puffs of smoke.

As the fire shot outwards, the four remaining Bunshin directed their tornadoes of water towards the pillar. The tornadoes slammed into it, and there was a hiss like a giant snake, along with a lot of steam. Their job done, the last Kage Bunshin also disappeared, leaving Kagome alone.

Shielding her eyes against the steam, Kagome watched for any sign of movement in front of her. As the steam cleared away, she saw Kikyou's body laying several feet from her. And she was _still_ moving.

She watched Kikyou weakly reach for her shuriken pouch at her side, and couldn't help but smirk, despite a dull ache appearing in her stomach. Telling Kawarubi that she didn't need to borrow anymore chakra, she let her appearance fade back to normal as she approached Kikyou.

To say that the Hanagami heir was a mess was an understatement. She was a completely bloody disaster. Cuts covered her porcelain face, and it was so covered in blood that no trace of that porcelain could be seen. Her hair was in tatters, and would have to be cut much shorter to even everything out. But Kikyou's brown eyes, which were usually dull, shone with anger as Kagome came closer.

"I must say, I'm impressed that you can even move," said Kagome monotonously, coming up to stand beside the Hanagami girl's body.

"You don't sound like it," said Kikyou in a wisplike voice, her hand digging into her shuriken pouch.

With one last burst of energy, she whipped out one of her shuriken and made to flick it towards Kagome, but the other girl kicked it out of her hand. The shuriken landed with a dull clang, and Kikyou cried out, since Kagome had kicked her hand, too.

Kagome stepped on the hand that she had kicked and knelt down next to Kikyou's body. She knew that the other hand posed her no threat; the swelling from the broken arm had already extended past Kikyou's wrist.

Cupping her free hand around Kikyou's ear, Kagome leaned down and whispered, "If you continue to lead InuYasha on like you have for the past few years, I'll make sure that I kill you next time. If it weren't for him, you'd be dead."

Sitting up, she looked down into Kikyou's wide brown eyes and said, "Got it?"

Kikyou nodded weakly, her eyes closing. When she fell still, Kagome put two fingers at the girl's throat, feeling her pulse beat weakly. The dull ache in her stomach intensified somewhat as she stood, and noticed Genma approaching, probably to announce the winner.

Seeing her happi lying nearby, Kagome went over and grabbed it, slinging it over her shoulder. She returned to Kikyou's body just in time for Genma to squat down and feel Kikyou's pulse.

"She's not dead," said Kagome monotonously, not looking at him.

"I can see that," said Genma, looking up at her.

Then he stood and said loudly, "Winner, Higurashi Kagome!"

The crowd erupted to a huge applause, but Kagome ignored it. She just wanted to find some place to sit down, and maybe get rid of her stomachache; her stomach felt like a needle was stabbing in and out of it. Her lungs began to burn for some odd reason, but Kagome shrugged it off as an aftereffect of using so much energy and chakra at once.

-o-o-o-

Izumo and Kotetsu were in shock. As everyone clapped around them, all they could do was stare at Kagome with open mouths. Kotetsu, however, was the first one to recover.

"Heh," he said, a sweatdrop on his cheek, "I guess she does live up to the name Uchiha, after all."

Izumo blinked and said, "How is this girl still a Genin? She's advanced much further than most of the kids her age."

They looked at each other, and then shrugged simultaneously.

-o-o-o-

'_She can harness her Bijuu's chakra without hand seals… She even transformed somewhat. Clearly, she has more control over her Bijuu than Naruto,_' thought the Sandaime, listening to the crowd roaring.

To his left, the Kazekage chuckled again.

"Listen to them. She gave them more than they bargained for today. Even if the Uchiha hadn't shown up, they would have gone home content," he said, his eyes narrowing a bit from his hidden smirk.

The Sandaime said nothing, but felt relieved that Uchiha Sasuke had shown up after all, and with Kakashi, to boot. The ex-ANBU captain _was_ a sly old dog, after all.

-o-o-o-

Kagome turned and began walking away from Kikyou's unconscious body, heading towards the stairs leading to where she had waited for her match. She saw the medic-nin come out of their entrance, carrying a stretcher. As she watched them, the burning feeling in her lungs and the stabbing pain in her stomach increased with each step she took.

Suddenly, a stab of pain – greater than before – seized her stomach. Kagome bent over double from the pain and clutched the source of her discomfort with one hand. She silently gasped when the pain steadily began to increase, like a white-hot fire kindling inside of her stomach. A warm liquid began to rise from somewhere within the depths of her body and up her esophagus.

As the liquid rose higher and higher within her throat, people in the crowd leaned forward to see what was the matter. Others murmured amongst themselves about the fight that they had just witnessed.

Kagome clapped her free hand over her mouth, and retched as the liquid reached the back of her throat. The spectators in the crowd gasped when blood spurted out from behind her hand as her stomach hurled. Members of Tsuki no Kuni gasped or gaped in horror as one of their strongest kunoichi continued to cough up blood.

"Kagome-chan…" breathed Naruto, concern for his friend overriding his shock of his discovery of her being a Jinchuuriki.

'_Just as I suspected. A jutsu with that much power is certain to have serious drawbacks,_' thought Touga, watching Kagome with calculating, but worried, eyes.

Kagome drew her hand away from her mouth, blood dribbling from the corners of her lips. She looked down at her bloody hand.

"Nani…?" she said shakily, uncomprehending what she was seeing.

Kakashi, standing alongside an uncomfortable-looking Sasuke, watched her reaction.

'_Thought you were invincible, didn't you? You're more of an Uchiha than I thought,_' he mused darkly.

Kagome continued to stare at her hand, her breath coming out shakily. Her body was beginning to feel cool to the touch, due to the cold sweat that had broken out from her pain and shock. The pain was creeping everywhere at once, and her legs began to feel like they were turning to jelly.

'_This blood on my hand… Why does it look so familiar…?_' she thought.

With a flash, her hand appeared smaller, equipped with claws that were stained with blood. Kagome gasped and blinked. When her eyes opened, her hand was back to normal. A stab of pain went through her skull, making her wince and give a gasp at the sensation.

The pain in the rest of her body intensified to an unbearable level. The vision in her eyes began to swim, black dots appearing in front them. She felt the muscles in her legs finally give way. Before she lost consciousness, the last thing she saw was the ground rushing up to meet her…

-o-o-o-

Kagome opened her eyes slowly. When her mind didn't grasp what she was seeing, she blinked slowly a couple of times.

She was currently floating in water. The surface was just above her a couple of feet, light coming down in rays while shifting and dancing. Turning her head, she looked around to find the sides of whatever was containing the water, but she couldn't see any (11).

Kagome took a breath and then froze. You couldn't breathe underwater…

Looking back at the surface, she let out her breath. Bubbles floated to the surface, increasing in size as the pressure surrounding them lessened.

'_Am I really underwater?_' she wondered.

Suddenly, Kagome felt herself beginning to rise up towards the surface. She let herself float upwards, powerless to prevent herself otherwise. When she broke through the surface, she lay there as if it were solid.

She pushed herself up on her elbows and got into a crouching position. Then she stood up all the way, finding it quite easy. It was as if her previous battle hadn't happened at all. She looked down at herself, finding that her clothing was clean and pristine, with no cuts to speak of. Kagome also found that all of her wounds and pain had vanished.

Frowning and grabbing a handful of her clothes, she said, "Nani? I'm not wet."

She looked up and took in her surroundings. Every direction looked the same: a flat pane of undisturbed water – blue as the sky on a clear day –ran in every direction.

"Is this…the ocean?" Kagome wondered out loud.

She had never seen the ocean before, but instantly knew that this wasn't it after she had spoken. The ocean had waves, and the water in this place was so still that it looked like one gigantic mirror. It reflected the sky in it everywhere except near Kagome, making it hard to discern the color of the water beneath. Speaking of the sky…

Kagome looked up and winced. The sky was like a day right before a snowstorm. It was the palest form of grey possible without actually being white, and the glare of it hurt Kagome's blue eyes.

"Where am I?" Kagome asked herself, looking back down at the horizon to look for any distinguishing landmarks.

She turned and looked behind her. _Still nothing._ So she took a couple of steps forward, and made a sound of surprise. She sounded like someone that had accidentally stepped on a fallen bird's egg and had instantly regretted it. Looking down at her feet, Kagome discovered that her feet were bare. Frowning, she wriggled her toes and made little ripples on the surface of the water.

"Weird…" she muttered, referring to both her have bare feet and the fact that she was standing on water without using chakra.

She looked forward again and hesitantly began to walk forward and again. She was almost afraid to disturb the perfect stillness of the water's surface, walking as if she were trying not to break eggshells that were underfoot. As she watched the ripples that came out from around her feet, she saw that they faced away into stillness after a four-foot radius. Kagome shrugged and continued to move forward, gaining purpose in her hesitant stride.

Kagome found that it was eerily quiet in this strange place. The only sound that reached her ears was the light 'slap slap' of her feet against the water and her own breathing. She swallowed nervously; a place with no sound seemed unnatural to her.

Her feet continued to take her forward, and she nearly ran into the thing until it was right in front of her face. Stopping short, Kagome became aware of a distortion of the scenery in a thin spot in front of her face. Squinting, Kagome found herself looking at what looked like a tall, thin pillar of ice shaped somewhat like a chain, except that it had no holes in it.

Kagome walked around the ice pillar. It was very thin, only about the size of her clenched fist. On closer inspection, Kagome found that there were tiny hairline cracks spread sparsely throughout the chain of ice. Kagome reached out a hand to touch the pillar, but withdrew it as if she had been burnt. Not only did the pillar look fragile, but it also gave off a feeling that made Kagome uneasy.

Looking up, Kagome saw that the pillar extended far away into the sky. It likewise went down into the depths of water at Kagome's feet. Eyeing the chain of ice out of the corner of her eye, Kagome decided to move on. Giving it one last glance, she continued to move forward.

But the pillar wasn't alone. As Kagome kept walking forward, she found that there were more of them, spread all around her. At first, they were scattered sparsely, and easy to avoid once sighted. That soon changed.

The pillars became more numerous, and not only went up and down, but also diagonally. Some pillars touched others very slightly. Kagome found that many of them were badly fractured with cracks, and some of them had shattered apart altogether.

Kagome also became aware of a whispering sound as the clusters of pillars – or chains or whatever they were – became more densely packed together. The words or the voices were indistinguishable at first, but as Kagome continued to pick and climb her way carefully through the pillars, she began to understand what was being said.

The word weren't whole sentences, per se, but Kagome caught enough to gather information.

"Kaa-san, why are you angry…"

"May I come out…"

"…I'm a good girl…"

This was the voice of a young child, one that Kagome recognized as her own. But she didn't remember saying any of what she was hearing from the pillars.

"…get in your room!"

"I hate you…"

"…took everything from me…"

"Bastard child…"

Kagome shuddered away from this voice. It was a woman's, cold and cruel. But it seemed to stir up some sort of ghost of a memory in her head, and Kagome frowned as she tried to remember what it was. Suddenly, several of the pillars vibrated, making her jump. In some of them, the cracks crawled and splintered inside of them, making the sounds of the cracking of ice floes.

Watching with bated breath, Kagome watched the cracks continue up and down some of the chains of ice. When it was silent again, except for the whispers, she sighed with relief.

Shakily, she continued forward. She tried to stop listening to the whispers, but some of them continued to distract her. Gritting her teeth, Kagome squeezed gingerly between two pillars and ignored what they said to her. The pillars now resembled a thicket, so densely packed together that they were. Going forward was difficult, but Kagome was drawn forward by her curiosity.

Crawling under a pillar and using her elbows and knees to push herself forward, Kagome became aware of another voice. It wasn't the child's or the woman's, but a male's.

"What are you making?"

At last, a full sentence. It came from a reasonably deep-voiced man.

"A… Wanna help?" came the child's voice, though it wasn't as clear as the man's.

"Iie, iie…" said the man, his voice echoing.

The voices faded, much to Kagome's frustration. She wanted to know who the man was. But she forced herself to move, desiring to know what was ahead.

Crawling forward, Kagome found that the pillars were starting to appear less and less. They thrust up out of the water more spread-out than before, just like when Kagome had first started crawling into the ice-pillar forest.

Kagome stopped and squinted her eyes. It suddenly seemed to her that a building was looming out of what appeared to be fog in front of her, except that there wasn't fog. There was just a faint silhouette of a building.

Now that she could stand up, Kagome found that she was covering a lot of ground. With every step that she took, she came closer and closer to the building in front of her. It gradually took shape as it came out of the mist, and Kagome found herself looking upon the familiar shape of a shrine.

It looked nothing like the one back home in Tsukigakure. For one thing, this one was run-down and unkempt, while the one back home was cared for daily by Kaede and her attendants. There was also a gloomy atmosphere around this shrine, like it lived under perpetual cloudiness all the time. Kagome shivered at the feeling.

Stepping towards the door of the shrine, she grunted in surprise when she saw that the door was engraved with several little pictographs running up and down where the hand slot was.

Kagome came closer and leaned forward for a closer inspection. She was startled to find that the little pictographs were in fact carvings of cicadas in various positions.

'_Higurashi (cicada(s))…_' she thought with revelation, and excitement rose in her chest.

Perhaps here she would find her long-sought-for answers…

Reaching for the hand slot in the door, a thrill rushed through Kagome's body. The fire that had gone out long ago, the fire of her desire to know of her past, reignited with a sudden flare. Her mouth suddenly gone dry, she swallowed nervously as her hand neared the door slot.

And suddenly, the shrine and everything else in that strange world flew away from her. Crying out, Kagome reached for the door as it whooshed away from her into the distance.

Blinking, Kagome found herself staring into pair of familiar, but enormous, eyes behind a metal cage sealed by an ofuda.

"Nani…?" said Kagome, whirling around.

Now, _this_ was a place that was familiar to her. The floor beneath her was solid ice, and shone with a sheen that was akin to a mirror's; yet it wasn't slippery. The walls around her were made out of ice, as well, but were rough like a naturally-made ice-cave.

"What? Where did it go? I was so close…" said Kagome, her shoulders slumping with disappointment.

"I took you away from that place," said the creature in the cage behind her, who was Kawarubi.

"Nan de?" asked Kagome angrily, whirling around to face the Bijuu.

Kawarubi's eyes seemed to sadden. She was lying down within her cage, her pale-blue and long, lanky body stretched out. Her long legs, which seemed too long even for her body, were tucked in close to her with her dainty paws folded inwards. Large, bat-like ears drooped somewhat above a short muzzle and ice-blue eyes (12). Behind her, her various tails were ever-shifting.

When Kawarubi did not answer, Kagome grew impatient.

"Why did you do that to me! I was so close to finding out about who I am!" said Kagome, placing a hand over her chest.

"There are some things that are best forgotten, Kagome," answered Kawarubi sadly; Kagome grew suspicious when the Bijuu didn't quite meet her eye.

Instead, her large eyes seemed to flicker towards the walls of the room. Kagome turned, and to her utmost shock, found that there were actually hundreds of those clear ice chains/pillars lining the walls. And all of them led to Kawarubi.

"Why are those in here?" demanded Kagome, pointing at the pillars, "They were in the other place!"

"A place that you were not supposed to go. You slipped from my grasp and took a detour," admitted Kawarubi.

"'Slipped'? 'Not supposed to go'?" repeated Kagome with angry confusion, "What do you mean?"

Kawarubi was silent.

"Tell me!" demanded Kagome.

"Since you were very young, I have had to prevent you from knowing certain things about your past," said Kawarubi finally.

Kagome grunted in surprise, her eyes widening with realization. Looking down, her bangs covering her eyes, she stared at her feet. Fists clenching at her sides, she began to shake with suppressed rage. She gritted her teeth so hard that they ached.

"Y-you mean," she began, her voice shaking, "you've been keeping my memories from me?"

There was a moment of silence, and then Kawarubi's eyes lowered as she said, "Hai."

Kagome's heart beat painfully inside her chest. She breathed in little hisses through her teeth. Kawarubi's betrayal cut her deep. The Bijuu had promised her that she would do her best to help her regain her memories, when instead, she had secretly been hoarding them away from her.

"Doushite!" shouted Kagome, her voice cracking with emotion, "You promised me! I trusted you, and you had your knife stabbed in my back the whole time! Does our teamwork and friendship mean so little to you?"

Kawarubi's eyes were guilt-ridden, but she held strong.

"You are not ready to know some of the things about your past. You will have to remember them on your own–" she began, but Kagome interrupted her.

"I am, too! Tell me! What are you hiding?" demanded the Genin girl.

Kawarubi remained silent, her eyes averted.

"What are you keeping from me?"

Kawarubi opened her large muzzle to speak, but then the ice cave began to shake.

Kawarubi knew then that it was time for her host to return to the real world, lest she die from chakra and blood loss. It was only through her own chakra that Kagome could be kept here in this world of the girl's mind, and too much had been spent when Kagome had gone into what Kawarubi called the 'World of Memories'. She needed that chakra now to stabilize the girl before she bled out entirely from the inside, and then to heal her.

"It is goodbye for now, Kagome…" said Kawarubi mournfully.

Kagome stretched out a hand towards the Bijuu, and found herself flying backwards out of the door that led to Kawarubi's sealed cage.

"Iie!" she cried, as she watched Kawarubi's form fly off into the distance.

-o-o-o-

Kawarubi watched her host leave the room sadly. It had been a constant struggle for her to keep deceiving the girl all these years, always guilty beyond belief. But it had all been necessary.

She supposed that the man that had sealed her into Higurashi Kagome had expected things to turn out differently. Most likely, he had expected that Kagome would have become a ruthless killer without mercy, not unlike that Gaara kid. And it probably would have happened, had not Kawarubi interfered.

Once Kagome's home village had turned on her, and the young girl's life had been threatened, Kawarubi had had no choice but to take over. She controlled the girl's body, killing all that wished her harm, unaware that the girl was watching the whole thing, helpless to prevent what Kawarubi was doing.

After killing all that opposed her, Kawarubi immediately realized her mistake. So she took all of the girl's preexisting memories, and sealed them away inside the girl's mind, where she hoped that they would remain undiscovered. But her host's mental capacities grew beyond what she had expected, even for such a young age. Slowly but surely, the seals around the memories began to break.

Most of the memories were harmless enough, such as Kagome's name. But the more important memories began to surface in the girl's mind while she slept. Kawarubi had been relieved when Kagome did not remember them when she woke.

But that was changing. Just as Kawarubi had feared, the girl was starting to remember her dreams, and beginning to question her identity. The seals on Kagome's mind would break, and all her memories would release like a flood. Kawarubi hoped that the girl had a strong enough mental capacity to withstand what she had done in the past.

'_Because,_' thought Kawarubi sadly, '_my seals on your earliest memories are what has kept you sane all these years, Kagome._'

-o-o-o-

"Iie!"

Blinking, Kagome found that she had one hand resting spread out in the dirt before her. One of her knees was kneeling against the ground, while the other was in a crouching position. Her other hand hung limply at her side.

Quite suddenly, her immense pain, exhaustion and lightheadedness flooded back into her, causing her to slump slightly. She felt so dazed that at first she didn't remember why she was there. All of her previous anger directed towards Kawarubi subsided.

Looking at her hand, she figured that she must have thrown it out when she had been leaving Kawarubi's imprisonment, when she had stretched out her hand.

Kagome raised her head somewhat and looked around. No time seemed to have passed, which was normal with her encounters while visiting Kawarubi in the middle of doing something. The medic nin were still rushing toward Kikyou's body, the crowd was still in an uproar. There was Kakashi – about time the old man showed up – standing next to a stunned-looking Sasuke; for some reason, Kakashi didn't seem the least bit surprised. Next to Kakashi stood Genma, whose expression hadn't changed the slightest, though he was looking at her out of the corner of his eye, his senbon clenched tightly between his teeth.

Coughing, Kagome felt blood trickle out of the corner her mouth. Her chest felt like multiple kunai had been stabbed through it with each breath. Taking a deep but painful breath, Kagome began to force herself to move. Even though she was still badly dazed, her determination to not go down and show weakness still shone through.

Her limbs – completely shot, of course – shook when she began to push herself upwards. Legs and chest burning, she forced herself to crouch on her tiptoes. She coughed again, more blood leaking out, but she ordered her legs to stand up.

Slowly but surely, her whole body wracked with pain, Kagome's legs began to push her torso upwards. Gasps and murmurs came from the spectators as Kagome found herself on her feet again. She stood at her full height shakily, her knees nearly knocking together, and her breath came out in pants.

'_I was sure that she was going to collapse. It was surprising enough that she stopped herself from doing so, but for her to stand up after using so much chakra and nearly killing herself is remarkable…_' thought Kakashi from the side of the arena.

Hearing a whoosh, Kagome turned slightly to see that her oldest brother making his way towards her on foot.

"Aniki," she whispered, hardly finding the strength to talk.

As Sesshoumaru neared Kagome, several medic nin ran up to her. Seeing this, Sesshoumaru put up a hand to signal for them to halt.

"Your assistance is unneeded. I will heal her myself," he said in his deep baritone.

"Demo…" said the leader of the medic nin, but closed his mouth when he saw Sesshoumaru narrow his eyes.

Bowing, he gestured for the rest of his team to leave Kagome alone, and ran off with his team behind him to help attend to Kikyou. Sesshoumaru went up to Kagome and stood looking down at her.

"You will walk, correct?" he asked.

Kagome nodded, her eyes trying to focus as she looked at him. Sesshoumaru seemed to notice her dazed state, since he narrowed his eyes once more, but he said nothing.

Walking past her, he said, "Ikuzou. We'll find an room to heal you in."

Kagome nodded again dumbly, shakily making her legs move after him. Every step was agonizing, and she found herself coughing up more blood, but she found that she could at least walk. Lightheaded, she made her way past Kakashi, who was studying her carefully, Genma, also studying her, and Sasuke, who just stared.

Kagome stopped as soon as she got to Sasuke, some of the mist in her head clearing for a second.

"It must be nice being you, chicken boy," she said angrily, looking at him out of the corner of her eye, "Compared to you, the rest of us were just the appetizers to _your_ fight, the main course."

Then she continued onward, her head starting to fog up again despite her anger towards Sasuke. The Uchiha narrowed his eyes after her.

'_Yare yare, she looked mad,_' thought Kakashi, '_Demo…she also looks totally out of it; she seemed really dazed when she pushed herself back up._'

'_So, that is your power, Higurashi Kagome,_' thought Genma, closing his eyes and smirking; he began to twirl his senbon around thoughtfully again.

Kagome didn't seem to notice all the eyes on her. For once, she didn't pay attention to her surroundings, and had only one thought in mind. _Follow sensei_.

-o-o-o-

Sesshoumaru had Kagome laid out on the floor, her torn-up happi resting behind her head as a support. The young Tokubetsu Jounin held his hands over his adopted sister's body, green chakra emanating from them.

Kagome stared at the ceiling of the little room that they were in, clutching her hitai-ite in her hand; she had received a gash above her hairline, and the hitai-ite's cloth had soaked up the blood.

Apparently, the whole stadium had little alcoves and rooms in which the participants could stay in, in case of delay. Sesshoumaru had chosen one of these out-of-the-way rooms along the labyrinthine halls, and had begun the process of healing Kagome's body. This particular room actually opened up to outside the stadium – a dumb move on the construction engineer's part, Kagome thought; what if there was an enemy in the stadium? – and there was the sound of birds chirping and the dull roar of the spectators above.

'_Broken ribs, multiple cuts and lacerations, internal bleeding… She was really careless,_' mused Sesshoumaru, focusing on his chakra.

Kagome, however, was thinking of something completely different.

'_If Kawarubi won't tell me anything, maybe Sesshoumaru-nii will! Perhaps he knows something!_' she thought, her eyes shifting to her older brother.

Kagome's gaze wandered back up the ceiling. She figured that it was better to approach the subject more subtlety than just diving in headfirst.

"I had a strange vision today, sensei," she said.

Her eyes flickered over to Sesshoumaru, but he was still concentrating on healing a gash on her leg. Looking back at the ceiling, Kagome continued.

"When I began to collapse, I suddenly saw a place. It was a run-down shrine, with higurashi carved into the door," she said, watching Sesshoumaru's reaction out of the corner of her eye.

Her older brother said nothing, but finished his healing. He began to search around inside his kunai pouch for something. Kagome pressed onward, turning her face towards him.

"The thing is, I don't remember ever having been there before," she said firmly, her eyes daring him to not respond.

"You have suffered blood and chakra loss, Kagome. It was just a hallucination brought on by your exhaustion," said Sesshoumaru monotonously, removing his hand from his kunai pouch; apparently, he had confirmed that what he was looking for was there.

Kagome was angry that he dared to look her in the eye as he lied through his teeth.

"Stop lying to me!" Kagome snapped, causing Sesshoumaru to pause.

"What makes you think I am?" he asked, quirking an eyebrow.

"You trained me too well, sensei. Now stop lying and tell me the truth!" demanded Kagome, starting to push herself to her feet.

"You should lie down. You were just healed–" began Sesshoumaru calmly, but Kagome stopped him.

"What are you hiding from me? I know that you and tou-san know something about me!" said Kagome, glaring at him angrily as she stood shakily.

"What is it that you want to know?" asked Sesshoumaru in his calm, monotone manner; it simply infuriated Kagome more.

"My past! The things that I cannot remember!" demanded Kagome.

"I cannot give you that," said Sesshoumaru, getting to his feet and turning towards the door.

"Nan de!"

"It is something that you have to remember on your own," said Sesshoumaru, looking over his shoulder with one eye looking back at her.

Kagome scoffed and said, "Kawarubi said the exact same thing."

"Then perhaps she is right," stated Sesshoumaru, irritation starting to lace his voice.

"Why are you all hiding this from me! I just want to know who I am and where I was born! Tell me! Onegai!" said Kagome, actually bowing at the waist.

"I cannot, Kagome," said Sesshoumaru quietly.

Kagome straightened again and said, "Nan de? Are you afraid? Afraid of what I'll do when I know the truth? I just want to know! If you're so scared–!"

"Enough!" snapped Sesshoumaru, effectively silencing Kagome, "It is not my decision to make!"

"Nani?" said Kagome.

"You know of the memory-scanning jutsu that is used in our village, correct? When chichi-ue and I used it on you, he made me swear that I would not reveal what I had seen to you without his permission. Now do you understand? I am not in any position to tell you, and even if I were, I wouldn't anyway," said Sesshoumaru.

There was a moment of silence.

"What did I do, Sesshoumaru-nii?" asked Kagome finally, in a quiet voice that actually scared the older teen.

Sesshoumaru turned to face her, and saw that she had her face lowered so that her bangs covered her eyes. Kagome raised her head, showing that her large blue eyes were full of fear.

"What did I do that was so horrible, Sesshoumaru-nii? Why else would you hide something from me, unless it was something so terrible that you had to keep me from finding out?" she asked.

Kagome looked down at her hand, and said, "Sometimes I see flashes of something that I do not remember, something that I feel that I should not remember. But I still want to know."

"If you were in any position to be told of your past, what if what you learned was not what you were looking for? What would you do then?" asked Sesshoumaru.

"I…" said Kagome, averting her face to the side, "I would…"

Then she looked back at Sesshoumaru and said, with determined anger, "I would accept it, whatever it was! Knowing something about who I am is better than knowing nothing!"

"_Would_ you accept it? I know you, Kagome," said Sesshoumaru, staring his sister down, "I know that you would not stop until you knew the entire truth. How long will you search for it? I can guarantee you this: whatever you may learn from chichi-ue or me, it will be incomplete, no matter what. Even _we_ do not know everything. What will you do then?"

"I… I just want to know," said Kagome softly, averting her eyes – which were full of pain and turmoil – off to the side, her face scrunched up in anger.

Sesshoumaru stared at her for a moment, but she didn't utter another word. His father had specifically instructed him to start weaning her off of his support, so that her emotional pain would not be as great when she was left here in Konoha. Although Sesshoumaru did not like his father's plan, it was also the Tsukikage's orders.

Turning back to the door, he said, "I have told you too much. Just forget what you have heard, Kagome. Agonizing over it will get you nowhere. Now, ikuzou."

Stepping from the room, Sesshoumaru saw Kagome begin following him. Her head was lowered again, and her face was unreadable. Her feet shuffled on the ground as she followed after him, looking like remarkably like a lost puppy. But her red Sharingan eyes were glaring up at him from behind her bangs – she hadn't put her hitai-ite back on yet – and they said everything; she was pissed.

'_Pissed and confused, like a trapped predator,_' thought Sesshoumaru, feeling her eyes boring holes into the back of head.

Eyes facing forward, he wondered if his father's idea would bear fruition.

'_She is emotionally unstable now. Will she be able to withstand the burden of you cutting her off from her home and everyone she knows, chichi-ue?_' he mused.

-o-o-o-

Kagome was still glaring at Sesshoumaru from behind her bangs. She had stuck her hands into the pockets of her sashinuki hakama, her happi thrown over her right shoulder. She slumped slightly, ready to spring on her older brother if he so much as sent a glance her way. Her mouth was scrunched up defiantly, and anger was simmering quietly under the surface inside her body, ready to erupt when something triggered it.

She had activated her Sharingan eyes mostly out of reflex, due to her feeling somewhat threatened, but also to try and intimidate her adopted older brother. To put it bluntly, it wasn't working. Sesshoumaru didn't seem to notice it at all.

'_If anyone can ignore me with my Doujutsu on for this long, it would be Sesshoumaru,_' thought Kagome, narrowing her eyes at the tall, white figure walking in front of her.

Her attention was distracted as the whispering began around her. Looking up, Kagome saw that they were walking along the back of the seats of the stadium. For some reason, Sesshoumaru had taken the long way around, because she could see members of Tsuki no Kuni from across the way.

People were looking up from their seats as Sesshoumaru and she went by, whispering behind their hands. Kagome watched them out of the corner of her eye; it was just as she had expected. _There_ were the looks of distrust and suspicion that she had been expecting.

Kagome mentally scoffed and continued to watch the spectators as she walked behind Sesshoumaru. Everywhere the reaction was the same; very few, most of them among shinobi, eyed her with negative emotions.

Clenching her hands into fists in her pockets, she lowered her head, watching her feet walk. She mentally willed herself to become invisible, but she knew that nothing of the sort would happen.

Why was she so let down that these people acted like everyone else, when they found out about her true nature? Had she actually been expecting that they would act any different?

'_I am such a fool,_' Kagome thought sadly, '_I always get myself into these situations, and I never seem to learn. What's the matter with me?_'

As she listened to the whispers around her, several memories sprang unbidden from her mind.

'_No matter where I went, people turned looked at me like they hated me. And everywhere I went, people turned their backs on me. Why would it be any different here?_'

She was so absorbed in her own thoughts that when Sesshoumaru stopped suddenly, she nearly ran into him.

Kagome blinked up at her older brother with confusion, her Sharingan fading from her eyes.

"Sensei? Nani–" she began questioningly, and then froze when she saw who was standing right in front of Sesshoumaru.

Naruto, who had appeared to be glaring at someone, blinked and grunted in surprise when he saw her. Shikamaru, who was crouching on the ground near him, gave a noise of surprise, as well.

Kagome immediately found her feet to be extremely interesting. She clutched her hitai-ite in her hand, letting her long bangs cover the majority of her face.

"K-kagome-chan?" said Naruto, taking a step closer and peering forward to try and get a look at her face.

"Yo, Naruto-kun…" said Kagome monotonously, readying herself for rejection.

She was surprised and confused out of her mind when Naruto ran forward and threw his arms around her.

"Kagome-chan! You're all right! I was really worried!" he said, his arms crushing her to death.

"Nani…?" gasped Kagome, blinking uncomprehendingly.

"Apparently, he missed you," said Shikamaru with boredom, causing Naruto to round on him.

"What's _that_ supposed to mean!" demanded the blonde, shaking his fist in the lazy Genin's face.

As Naruto did this, Kagome looked around with surprise. Kakashi and Gai – when had he shown up? – appeared to be speaking to each other, ignoring what was going on altogether. Chouji was asking Ino and Sakura why they were staring at Kagome. Lee – it was a surprise that he was there – was leaning against his crutch and watching Sasuke and Gaara's match.

"Naruto… Why aren't you disgusted at me? Or mad?" asked Kagome, causing Naruto to look back at her with surprise on his face.

"Why aren't any of you? You saw my match, didn't you…?" she asked, looking down at her sandals.

"Why would we be?" asked Naruto, cocking his head with confusion.

"Because of what I am! Because of what I did to Kikyou!" blurted Kagome out angrily, causing Naruto to step back.

She was unprepared when Naruto raised his fist and hit her right on the head. Stars appeared in the front Kagome's eyes, and she nearly lost her balance.

"Itee! What was _that_ for?" demanded Kagome, putting her hand on her new, steaming goose egg.

"What are you being so gloomy for? All of us are your friends, aren't we? So why would we be mad?" demanded Naruto, frowning angrily at her.

Shikamaru added in by saying, "I was suspicious of you at first, but I guess you're all right. Taku, this is troublesome, trying to cheer you up…"

Kagome grunted in surprise and said, "Sou ka? All of you?"

She looked around at the others, who were still doing what they had been doing before.

'_It doesn't seem like it,_' she thought, an eyebrow twitching in disbelief.

Turning back to Naruto, she saw that he was smiling again, his hands on the back of his head. Relief flooded through her; the others were ignoring her – except for Sakura and Ino – but they weren't staring at her or whispering, either. Naruto was grinning at her, and even Shikamaru had mustered a bit of a smile.

"That's…that's a relief!" she announced to Naruto, brushing her hair out of her eyes and smiling.

"Hee hee hee! Now, you can help me yell at Kakashi-sensei," said Naruto, grinning.

"Actually, I should be getting back–" began Kagome, but Sesshoumaru interrupted her.

"Iie. You will stay here."

"Nan de?" asked Kagome.

"Should we return to the members of your country, InuYasha will undoubtedly try to fight with you. What you did to Hanagami Kikyou has angered him tremendously. It would be wise to stay over here for the time being," said Sesshoumaru.

Kagome looked across the way to where she saw the red dot that was InuYasha. Even from here, she could sense that he was _very_ angry, and ready to beat her up.

"Oh. But I could–" she said.

"No, you won't," said Sesshoumaru, "I just finished healing you."

Kagome sighed with frustration, and Sesshoumaru nodded at her.

"I will take my leave now. Try not to pick _too_ many fights while I'm gone," said Sesshoumaru, turning on his heel and walking away.

"Eh…" said Kagome, looking after him disbelievingly.

"Sugee!" said Naruto, making her look at him.

"Nani?"

"He spoke!" said Naruto, pointing at Sesshoumaru's retreating form.

"Ano… He is kind of quiet, isn't he?" said Kagome, rubbing the back of her neck and smiling.

"Oh! Higurashi-chan is here, is she?" came Kakashi's voice, making Kagome, Naruto, and Shikamaru look in his direction.

'_As if you didn't already know, you old bastard,_' thought Kagome tiredly, a sweatdrop appearing on her forehead.

Kakashi was standing with his hands in his pockets, his eye crinkled up from his hidden smile. Gai and Lee grunted in surprise and turned in Kagome's direction.

Lee's face lit up and he crutched his way over, saying, "Kagome-san! I haven't seen you since the preliminary matches!"

He stopped in front of Kagome, who smiled and said, "Actually, I just saw you yesterday, Lee-san."

Lee seemed surprised as he said, "Sou ka, Kagome-san?"

"I went to visit Naruto-kun at the hospital yesterday, so I stopped by your room on the way out. It's nice to see that you are up and walking about again," said Kagome.

Lee smiled again and gimped his way back over to Gai. Sakura and Ino exchanged looks, and Sakura spoke out, feeling somewhat territorial over Lee.

"What are _you_ doing here?" she asked snidely.

"I thought I made it clear that my life's mission is to annoy you, Sakura-san," said Kagome with boredom, sticking her hands into her pockets.

Sakura scrunched up her face with anger, trying to think of a nice comeback. When she came up with nothing, she turned back around and faced the arena.

'_That's what I thought,_' mused Kagome, smirking.

Kagome plopped down next to Naruto on the step going downwards and gave a sigh of content. She dangled her hands between her legs with her elbows on her knees, her bloodstained hitai-ite hanging loosely from her fingers.

"So," said Kagome, looking up at Kakashi and smirking even more, "what are we arguing about?"

_**Owari**_

-o-o-o-

**Omake: Clothes Shopping! (13)**

"Now, this one here, I think is very _you_, Uchiha-sama," said the store clerk, picking out a gaudy color that Sasuke nearly flinched away from.

He and Kakashi were currently standing in one of the local clothing stores, bored out of their minds. Sasuke glanced at his sensei, who had a painful 'I-don't-want-to-be-here' look on his masked face. At least, that's what his one eye and eyebrow seemed to convey.

"This one is very nice, don't you agree, Uchiha-sama?" prattled on the clerk in her annoying voice, not even bothering to wait for an answer.

"Kakashi," said Sasuke out of the corner of his mouth, "we should just go to the Uchiha compound and grab something there."

"That sounds like a good idea," muttered a relieved Kakashi.

Waiting until the clerk's back was turned, Kakashi and Sasuke slowly began to creep towards the front of the store. Once they reached the door, Kakashi grabbed the bell that announced customers and placed it on the counter. Sasuke opened the door enough for his body to slip through, which he did.

Once outside, he held open the door to allow Kakashi out. Once the older man had gotten outside along with his student, he closed the door as quietly as possible. Then the both of them disappeared in a flash, leaping onto the rooftops.

"I rather like this one, Uchiha-sama…" said the clerk.

She turned and blinked in surprise, finding two flashing outlines of where her two 'customers' had been previously, but no sign of the them anywhere.

The clerk looked around and blinked again.

"Uchiha-sama…?"

-o-o-o-

Author's Notes

(1) In Japan, children take baths with their parents, no matter the gender. I think it's just plain creepy that female children take baths with their fathers.

(2) This is _me_ in the mornings. I am _so_ not a morning person.

(3) "Bitch, I'll scratch your eyes out!" If you have haven't watched littlekuriboh's 'Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Abridged Series', I totally recommend that you watch it on YouTube. It's as funny as hell! The first couple of episodes are a little iffy, but it gets better as it goes on. littlekuriboh is da bomb!

(4) Poor Hinata-chan… T.T Naruto is SO tactless!

(5) Actually, Kakashi and Genma are the same height: 181 cm, or around (if you're American like I am) 6' 4". Tall men, I salute thee! ***drools***

(6) Naruto anime has serious problems with depth perception. One minute, Naruto's standing several yards away from the line of Genin, and the next, he's standing right behind Genma with Shikamaru! I noticed another thing like this during the First Exam. WTF!

(7) When I was writing this part, I had a weird vision of chibi InuYasha running with his arms in the air, screaming like a girl. And behind him was chibi Miroku, who was chasing after him with the Kazaana and laughing like a maniac, sucking up everything in his wake… -_-;

(8) The Japanese actually value and treasure small things. I guess I can understand, since I think some tiny things are cute, like…PUPPIES! AND KITTENS! AND…! AND…! AND ANY BABY ANIMAL! Okay, I'll shut up now.

(9) When I was writing this part, Skillet's song 'Monster' appeared in my head. Skillet rulez!

(10) Picture of Titanic's propeller-end lifting up into the air pops into my head… That part was kinda scary when I little, 'cause of how big the propellers were. Ahem, moving on…

(11) This part of being underwater was inspired by Blood+'s opening 'Season's Call' (yeah, I know, the same song I used for this chapter). What I based it on was in the opening title when Saya is floating in a swimming pool. ***sigh*** I love all the Blood+ openings; they're so emotional.

(12) When I think of Kawarubi's body, I picture her having the type of body an African Wild Dog has, a non-captivity one. Now _that_ is a strange looking animal. I got the idea when I watched 'Planet Earth' one day.

(13) Ever seen 'White Chicks'? 'What a beautiful chocolate man! Ah ha ha haa!' 'We're gonna go SHOPPING!'

-o-o-o-

There you are, folks! This chapter was 75 PAGES! Phew… I nearly keeled over and died while writing this… Just kidding! ^.^

I think that 'Season's Call' goes in my top five most-favorite J-Pop/J-Rock songs, and if you narrowed it down, it would be in my top three. Hyde is _the_ greatest!

**WARNING**: I will not be able to update for possibly two months, because I have a very important research paper that I have to complete in U.S. History. It's one of those 'you don't complete it, you fail this class' type of papers. So, I will be focusing my computer time on researching and completing this paper. Sorry! T.T

Ja ne, and sorry for the late update!


	22. Author's Note, PLEASE DON'T KILL ME!

H-hello…everyone… I'm not dead yet… PLEASE DON'T KILL ME!

I meant to post this author's note a long time ago, but I'm just far too lazy! I'll undoubtedly go to hell for making all of you wait for so long only to be let down! ***faces growing, murderous anger*** Gomen nasai!

This is an official declaration. 'WANDERING PATHS' IS ON HIATUS UNTIL I SAY OTHERWISE! ***runs away screaming***

I actually have several good reasons for this, so don't kill me just yet, please!

**Number 1**: I have trouble finding Naruto episodes with the original Japanese and English subtitles! I was screwed over numerous times concerning when I tried to write yet another chapter (the videos wouldn't load, people are liars – it was in English -_-, I used up to much 'time', per se, etc.). One had terrible quality, was in Japanese, AND had Russian subtitles! Does it look like I know Russian, you stupid Internet people that post foreign language videos on English-speaking sites? I about nearly blew a fuse at that!

**Numero 2**: Have you _seen_ how long my chapters are? I tried to write 30 pages, AS A MINIMUM! AGHHHHH! DO YOU KNOW HOW AGONIZING THAT IS? DO YOU?

**Numba 3**: It simply took up all of my time! I had other story ideas, but trying to write 'Wandering Paths' allowed very little freedom when it came to writing other stories.

I learned my lesson. Have you seen my InuYasha/Bleach crossover? Its chapters are MUCH shorter, too short for some people. But it's easier to pace and doesn't make me want to tear out my hair until I'm bald.

I gave you my reasons (pretty damn good ones, too). I bet about all of you would want to be on my firing squad, wouldn't you? -_-;

In my defense, I wrote over twenty LONG, AGONIZING, enjoyable T.T…chapters. It was fun writing it, really, but think of it as my wonderful debut into the fanfiction world! Taadaa!

I thank all you for your continuous support of this story, and may it inspire you to write self-fulfilling Inu/Naru xovers yourselves! I don't know when this story shall rise again, but I ask you again, PLEASE DON'T KILL ME!

Oh, yeah. If you send an incredibly rude review saying that you hate my guts, I'll be rude back, just to let you know. -_-;

Tch, I hate having to threaten you guys. Please, don't make me be a meanie! T.T

Thanx,

~Kuroi-chan ^.^


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